Surveillance Images Released In Fatal Robbery At Aldi Store
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Chicago police on Friday released surveillance images, including video, of two suspects in the armed robbery that left an Aldi security guard dead Thursday evening.
Police say the two armed offenders entered the grocery store in the 9000 block of South Halsted Street about 7:20 p.m. and pulled out handguns, announcing a robbery. One of the offenders fatally shot a security guard. A female customer was wounded.
The offenders fled the store on foot.
One is described as a male black in his 20s or 30s with a medium build. The other offender is in his 40s or 50s, with a thinner build, and was wearing eyeglasses, police said in a community alert.
Security guard Reginald Lanier, 54, of the Beverly neighborhood, was killed.
"Reginald was a good employee who was doing his job when criminals intervened to maliciously take his life. We are cooperating fully in the ongoing police investigation, and we are hopeful the responsible persons are arrested promptly," Chris Thornton, president of A & R Security, said in a written statement.
The female victim is a 67-year-old customer who was leaving the store when she was shot.
She tells CBS 2 said she had just finished shopping at Aldi on her way home from work when she heard at least three gunshots ring out. She was shot in the leg.
"I was saying, 'God, I don't want to go like this,'" she told reporter Suzanne Le Mignot.
As the woman crawled to the exit, trying to escape, she saw the security guard on the floor with his eyes closed. Lanier, who had been shot in the head and torso during the robbery, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman says she had come to know the guard through shopping at the store.
"He's with God now," said the victim, who asked that her name not be publicized.
The store was expected to reopen Saturday.
