'It Was Just Reckless,' Daughter Says Of Shootout That Killed Bobbye Johnson, 55, When Security Guard Opened Fire In Bronzeville
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bobbye Johnson was killed in Bronzeville by a stray bullet fired by a security guard who is now charged with her murder.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reported Monday, Johnson's daughter said the shooting should never have happened.
Johnson's family said they are relying on their faith to get them through her death. Her daughter says she spoke to her mother for the last time, just three minutes before she was shot.
"I said, 'OK, I love you Mama, be careful,'" said Carleeta Johnson. "She said, 'I love you too. Bye bye, baby,' and then hung up."
That was the final conversation Carleeta Johnson would have with her mother, Bobbye Johnson, last Tuesday.
Bobbye had just paid her rent at Chase Bank at 35th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, and called her daughter to say she'd be home soon. Three minutes after that phone call, the 55-year-old grandmother of six was shot in the chest.
"She was really, really a positive, strong, humble person," said Carleeta Johnson. "She always wanted the best for everybody."
Police sources say the Feb. 1 shooting stemmed from a quarrel between liquor store security guard Victor Brown and a man nicknamed "Renegade."
As seen on store surveillance video, the two men got into an argument at Wood's Food and Liquor at 35th Street and Indiana Avenue – two full city blocks away from the Chase Bank branch where Johnson was at the time.
"Renegade" shot Brown in his right thigh by firing a gun through his coat pocket. Brown is seen on video falling to the ground and firing blanks from his starter pistol as "Renegade" runs away, down the block.
Then, Brown is seen on surveillance video reaching for a real gun from another security guard. Prosecutors say Brown fired that gun 20 times on a busy street - with one of those bullets hitting Bobbye Johnson in her chest.
"To me, I feel like it was just reckless," said Carleeta Johnson. "It was just reckless. and that's what upsets me the most - because he could have shot a child."
Johnson, who faithfully attended services at Saint Luke Missionary Baptist Church and sang in the choir, would be pronounced dead at a hospital after the shooting. Despite being a security guard, Brown has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2005, involving armed robbery and domestic battery.
"You're serving people and you have this long rap sheet - and no one does any background checks or nothing?" Carleeta Johnson said.
The owner of the security company Brown works for told us he did do a background check, but did not know Brown had a record. The owner said Brown had the standard 20 and 40 hour security training certificates.
"I am very hurt, and I know - being a woman of Christ; you know, a woman of God - I know I will eventually have to forgive the man behind the gun," said Carleeta Johnson. "But right now, I'm just too angry."
Police say the man Brown had been arguing with, nicknamed Renegade, was still on the run as of Monday.
Late Monday, neighbors gathered in Bronzeville to remember Bobbye Johnson. The group We the People in the Community organized the vigil outside the Chase Bank where she was struck by the bullet.
The organizer of the vigil said the purpose was both to bring attention to Bobbye Johnson's senseless death, and the problem of drugs and violence in the community.
A march followed the vigil, and Chicago Police officers joined in.
