Albano’s Pizzeria has reopened for the first time since the tragic slaying of the restaurant’s beloved owner just over a week ago.
The restaurant reopened Friday, just eight days after the fatal shooting of the pizzeria’s owner Giovanni Donancricchia.
Family of the slain owner said the father of three “would have wanted it this way.”
Donancricchia was shot and killed on June 20 while protecting his wife from an armed robber, their son told NBC Chicago.
Family said Saturday Donancricchia's wife has not returned to the store yet, but she has sampled menu items and said they were as her husband would have wanted.
Donancricchia and his wife Angela were closing up shop around 12:30 a.m., but left the backdoor open so they could offer leftover food to the homeless, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Matthew Brown-Turner, 25, was charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted armed robbery and was denied bail in a hearing last weekend, officials said.
Prosecutors allege Brown-Turner entered the pizza shop through the back door and approached Donancricchia's wife at the cash register, but Donancricchia interfered and shielded her so she could get away.
According to prosecutors, Donancricchia pulled out a knife but was fatally shot in the chest.
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Donancricchia’s son, Saverio Donancricchia, said he wasn't surprised to hear his father put his mother's life first. The couple had been married for more than 40 years and "he was her life," Saverio Donancricchia said.
"The first time I saw the picture of him moving my mom out of the way approaching the assailant, to be honest, there was no surprise," he said. "That's the kind of man my father was."
The news came as a shock to customers who stopped by the pizzeria, on the 5900 block of West Roosevelt Road, on Thursday.
"He's the best person I've ever worked for," said Wallace Harrington. "[He was] generous, always flexible."
The pizzeria boasted that it'd been ranked by the Travel Channel as one of top 101 places to chow down.
