The family of a woman shot and killed inside a Walgreens store on the Northwest Side is speaking out Friday for the first time, calling for the man who shot her to be arrested and charged with murder.
Relatives of 46-year-old Sircie Varnado expressed their anger and sadness at the shooting, which police say is possibly related to a shoplifting incident at the store.
“It was too aggressive,” her sister Maria Reed said. “You could have tased her, you could have pepper-sprayed her, or simply held her down. Why did you have to shoot her twice in the face?”
According to reports, an unidentified man was called to the store by a manager after he had confronted Varnado on accusations of shoplifting. When the man arrived, he began tussling with the 46-year-old woman, and while she was on the floor, the man shot her in the face, according to police.
The man then picked up the single shell casing and left the store, police sources told the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.
“If she was stealing, why wouldn’t they lock the door and call the regular police?” Varnado’s cousin Cynthia Reed asked. “Why would he take matters in his own hands and handle it in his own way?”
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Saying that there is “something more to” the shooting, Varnado’s family is demanding that police arrest the gunman.
“He needs to be charged now,” Varnado’s niece Nydia Foster said. “Anyone who’s involved needs to be charged immediately. She was loved. She had a family who loved her.”
Police have not made any arrests in the case, but have identified a person of interest.
