(The Center Square) – Chicago Police have charged a 16-year-old with killing a retired officer.
Retired Chicago Police Officer Larry Neuman, 73, was the latest victim of a fatal Chicago shooting, which detectives say was committed by a teenage offender.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said it is horrifying to bookend weeks with press conferences about murder victims.
“Last week it was a child. Today it’s an elder. And the common thread is other children taking their lives,” Foxx said.
A different 16-year-old was charged with the murder of 7-year-old Jai’Mani Rivera last week.
According to court documents, teen suspects had committed electronic-monitoring violations before the murders of both Rivera and Neuman.
The suspect in Neuman’s death had been on home confinement.
Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said that community assistance was instrumental in the investigation of Neuman’s murder.
“The evidence they provided helped detectives quickly secure charges against the 16-year-old offender,” Ursitti said.
Larry Neuman served as a Chicago Police Department Explosives Technician and was also a U.S. Marine veteran.
Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said that before Neuman was shot, he pushed a lawn-care worker to safety when two offenders displayed guns.
“Larry Neuman did what he’s always done, acted heroically, put his own life on the line to try to save the life of someone else,” Snelling said.
Snelling said Neuman worked as a pastor to bring peace to his neighborhood and to show young people there was a better way.
“In a brazen and senseless act of violence. Larry’s life was taken from him by the very people he committed his life to helping,” Snelling said.
According to Snelling, Neuman served with honor.
