Retired Chicago police officer Larry Neuman hailed as hero – NBC Chicago

Retired Chicago police officer Larry Neuman was paying someone to mow the lawn in front of his West Garfield Park home when two armed individuals approached.

When the retired police veteran noticed both people were armed, he acted quickly and “heroically pushed the worker out of harm’s way,” Chicago Police Chief Antoinette Ursitti said. Neuman grabbed his gun from his waistband, and he and the suspects exchanged shots.

Neuman, 73, was shot and subsequently succumbed to his injuries. The suspects fled the scene after the shooting.

At a press conference Monday evening, Chicago Police Commissioner Larry Snelling announced that a 16-year-old boy had been arrested in connection with Neuman’s killing and charged with first-degree murder. Investigators were still searching for the second shooter.

CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, Chief of Criminal Investigation Antoinette Ursitti and Cook County District Attorney Kim Foxx released new details about the murder of former police officer Larry Neuman in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood.

Ursitti thanked the public for their help in bringing the suspected shooter to justice, saying several people had come forward with the teenager’s name after police released surveillance footage on Saturday.

“The support of the community was critical to the investigation in this case,” said the Chief of Criminal Investigation. “The evidence they provided helped investigators quickly bring charges against the 16-year-old offender.”

An officer from the Area Four Priority Response Team also recognized the suspect from an earlier encounter in May in which he was wearing the same clothing, police said.

Neuman, the longest-serving explosives specialist in the history of the Chicago Police Department, most recently worked as an explosives technician with the TSA at Midway International Airport, where he passed on his knowledge to the younger generation.

The veteran police officer was a longtime resident of West Garfield Park, where he was deeply involved in the neighborhood – a community that loved him, Snelling said.

“He still lived in this community even though he didn’t have to,” the police chief said. “But it showed how much he cared about the people who live in this neighborhood.”

Numerous community members, local leaders and officials honored Neuman with a march and vigil on Sunday.

While he spent his professional life protecting others, Neuman also worked tirelessly to bring peace to the West Garfield Park neighborhood – to show young people “there is a better way.” Snelling recalled a recent conversation with the Rev. Paul Simms of St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church, where Neuman served as pastor.

“And he said that Larry would have done anything to reach the two young men responsible for his murder,” Snelling said. “Larry’s life was taken from him by the very people he spent his life trying to help.”

While Neuman’s arrest and charges will not bring him back, police hope that it will at least bring some justice to his family – and that others will not have to go through what they did.

Dozens of people took part in a march in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood on Sunday to remember retired police officer Larry Neuman, who was shot and killed days earlier, NBC Chicago’s Lexi Sutter reports.

“So we’re going to carry on Larry’s mission,” Snelling said. “We’re going to continue to honor Larry and other members of every community who stepped up and tried to do whatever they could to make those communities better.”

Monday’s announcement came just days after authorities announced the arrest and indictment of another 16-year-old boy accused in the shooting death of 7-year-old Jai’Mani Rivera. The boy was shot while running an errand for his mother outside his Near West Side home.

“Last week it was a child, today it’s an older person, and the common thread is more children taking their own lives,” Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx said at Monday’s press conference.

Although the 16-year-old accused of Neuman’s murder has been charged as an adult, his name had not been released as of Monday evening. His name, along with other details about the shooting, are expected to be released at a court hearing on Tuesday.