Police said robbers may be responsible for a holdup at another Aldi store last month
By BJ Lutz & Natalie Martinez ••
A supermarket security guard was shot and killed and another woman injured Thursday evening during a robbery at the south side grocery store, and police believe it may be the work of robbers who hit another store last month.
The pair were shot at an Aldi store near 90th and Halsted streets at about 7:30 p.m. when two men walked into the store and announced the holdup.
The security guard who tried to intervene, 54-year-old Reginald Lanier, was shot in the head and died, police said.
"Our hearts go out to his family, friends and co-workers," read a statement from A&R Security, Lanier's employer. "Reginald was a good employee who was doing his job when criminals intervened to maliciously take his life."
The woman, a 67-year-old customer whose identity has not yet been publicly released, was shot in the leg as she tried to get away. She was taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Community activist Andrew Holmes said the shooter may have used the guard's own weapon.
Police on Friday substantiated Holmes' belief that the robbers may be responsible for another heist in the area. An Aldi store at 47th Street and Ashland Avenue, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, was robbed on Oct. 28.
A baptist church is just steps from the supermarket. Several parishioners inside said they'd just started choir practice Thursday night when shots rang out.
"It never stops, and you can never rest and can never relax," said Kingdom of Christ Baptist Church Pastor Harvey Richardson. "Tonight, we had to lock the doors. Normally church doors are open, but tonight we had to lock the doors just to make sure that our children don't go out and decide to slip across the street."
Calumet Area detectives are investigating. No one is in custody.
Surveillance cameras recorded these two males entering the store shortly before Thursday night's robbery.
Police suspect the two robbers who killed a security guard and wounded a customer at an Aldi grocery store in the Auburn Gresham Thursday evening held up another Aldi's at 47th and Ashland on Oct. 28.
