Pizza delivery driver shot dead, sister pistol-whipped during robbery in Calumet City, Illinois
CALUMET CITY, Ill. (CBS) — Calumet City police late Friday were on the hunt to find gunmen who shot and killed a man who was protecting his sister on the job.
The victim, Steven Cotner and his sister, Allison—who was beaten in the robbery—delivered pizzas together.
"He has the gun pointed at me and he goes, 'Give me the money!'" said Allison Cotner. "And I said, 'I don't have no money.'"
Steven and Allison Cotner were working as pizza delivery drivers for Windy City Pizza Works in Calumet City Thursday night. They were called to make a delivery on the 400 block of Merrill Avenue around 8 p.m.
They would soon learn the call itself was a ruse—and they were set up for an armed robbery.
"And then I'm like: 'Please don't shoot me! I just told you I have no money!'" Allison said. "I'm like I'm screaming."
Allison said within seconds, two teens dressed in black from head to toe—with only their eyes visible—had guns pointed at her. One used the grip of his gun to beat her, in her left eye, leaving her black and blue with two stitches.
Allison said her brother jumped in to help her.
"I heard two gunshots going off, and they took my brother for no reason," she said. "Like, he was just an innocent soul, like, they didn't have to do that to him."
Allison said the teens left, taking no money. She said her brother would always go on deliveries with her to keep her safe—even though Steven was Allison's was her younger brother, he was always her protector.
The pair would split their earnings. Both were still living at home, and Steven, at the age of 23, was working to save money to get a place of his own.
"I just want him back," said Allison.
Allison said she comes from a tight-knit family in Hammond, Indiana. Steven was the fifth child in a family of six children.
For each of them, family has always come first.
"He would just do anything to try to protect us, and the fact that he lost his life over nothing," said Steven and Allison's sister, Candace Cotner. "You got nothing out of it. No money. Nothing. You just took his life for no reason."
Detectives from the Calumet City Police Department and Investigators from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force were investigating late Friday. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Calumet City Police Department at 708-868-2500.
Meanwhile, Steven Cotner's family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for his funeral. Steven would have turned 24 on Oct. 21.