Store Customer Slain In South Holland Robbery
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 45-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon while shopping at a South Holland cell phone store, when two men robbed the shop at gunpoint.
Two gunmen entered the Boost Mobile store at 162nd and Ellis in South Holland around 2 p.m. Tuesday. Police said several employees and customers were in the store at the time of the holdup.
When police arrived on the scene a short time later, they found a male customer had been shot. The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Christopher Lloyd, of Gary, Indiana.
Lloyd was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, where he was pronounced dead at 2:46 p.m.
Police said one of the robbers was arrested shortly after the shooting, but the other remained at large Wednesday morning.
"Both offenders fled from the store, and as police arrived, observed one of the offenders, and a brief chase occurred. At that time, we subsequently apprehended the person," said South Holland Police Chief Greg Baker.
Lloyd's mother was too distraught to talk on camera, but said she would only believe it was real after seeing her son's body.
Lee Carrol, who has known Lloyd for more than 10 years, said the hole left in the lives of Lloyd's family and friends is palpable.
"It's a void, because you always feel his presence around. Now, we're still waiting on him to walk through the door. You know, you feel like that's what's going to happen," he said.
Torrence Williams was working inside JR's Barber Shop next door when the bullets started flying Tuesday afternoon.
"We just heard a succession of boom boom, gunshots, you know?," he said.
Williams watched as Lloyd, a divorced father, was wheeled out of the Boost Mobile store on a stretcher.
"We saw the gentleman when they took him out, and they worked on him in the ambulance, right in front of the phone shop, and knew something was wrong, because they stayed there for quite a bit," he said.
Police would not say if Lloyd tried to intervene and thwart the robbery, but Carrol said he wouldn't be surprised if that Lloyd did in his last moments.
"He's a protective-type person, I'll say that. He wouldn't want nobody to get hurt if he could help somebody, I do know that," Carrol said.
Sources said Lloyd did indeed intervene, and was killed while struggling for the gun.
Boost Mobile said it is working with police to try to track down the second robber.