Probe sought in police slaying of black security guard

A suburban Chicago alderman called Tuesday for prosecutors to investigate the fatal shooting of a black security guard by a white police officer outside the bar where the guard worked.

Authorities have said little about the scene that ended early Sunday with the death of 26-year-old Jemel Roberson, who was apparently wearing a hat emblazoned with “security” across the front when he was shot outside Manny’s Blue Room in Robbins, a predominantly black community just south of Chicago.

At the time, according to witnesses and a lawsuit, Roberson was attempting to detain a suspect in a separate shooting that wounded several other people at the tavern.

“Here is a security guard who is subduing a suspect,” but the officer “just sees a black man with a gun and kills him,” Alderman Keith Price said.

Price said he learned from witnesses that there are security cameras inside and outside the bar. He urged the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to launch an investigation.

The Illinois State Police declined to comment on their investigation. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department, which is also investigating, said she did not know if there were security cameras at the bar.

Another security guard at the tavern said the officer jumped onto the bar and waved an assault rifle before running outside and fatally shooting the guard, an attorney said Tuesday.

Gregory E. Kulis, who on Monday filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officer and the community where he works, said the surviving guard told him that the officer pointed a gun at him until he screamed at him that he was a security guard.

“That’s when he jumped off the bar, waving the gun, and ran outside the door,” said Kulis, who declined to identify the other security guard. The name of the officer, who is from the community of Midlothian, has not been released either.