Charges were announced Monday against a 16-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting a retired Chicago police officer, marking the second time in recent days that a minor has been charged in a high-profile killing.
The teen was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Larry Neuman last Thursday morning outside his home in West Garfield Park, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters at police headquarters.
On Saturday, police released surveillance footage in an effort to identify two people wanted in the attack. By Sunday evening, the teen surrendered to police at the Harrison District station.
“For decades, Larry worked to bring peace to his neighborhood, to show our young people that there is a better way," said Snelling, who was flanked by Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and other officials. "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.”
Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said Neuman was paying a landscaper outside his home in the 4300 block of West Monroe Street when the two suspects approached him with guns drawn.
Neuman then pushed the worker "out of harm's way" and pulled out his own gun, Ursitti said. The suspects then opened fire, striking Neuman as he fired back.
The video released by police led to “multiple anonymous tips” and gave detectives the identity of the teen who was charged, Ursitti said. An officer also recognized the teenager "from a previous encounter" in May, when the suspect was wearing the same outfit.
Ursitti said the teen turned himself in Sunday "with assistance from members of the community" and was positively identified as one of the shooters.
"The community assistance in this case was instrumental in the investigation," Ursitti said, crediting a $75,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the daytime killing.
The second shooter remained at large, Ursitti said. Officials didn't offer a motive, but Ursitti noted that a robbery task force was involved in the investigation.
Neuman, 73, joined the police department after serving in Vietnam, retiring in 2010 as the bomb squad’s longest-serving explosives technician. He later worked as an explosives expert for the federal Transportation Security Administration, training agents at O’Hare and Midway airports to spot threats.
He was also a pillar of the violent West Side community where he lived. Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson attended a vigil Sunday honoring the former officer, who was also an ordained minister.
Mourners in West Garfield Park march on Sunday in memory of Larry Neuman, a retired CPD officer and former Marine who was a pillar in the community. “Officer Larry has been fighting for a very long time to make sure that the young brothers on the block had hope,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told the crowd. “His living and his dying will not be in vain.”
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
“Reverend Neuman called me on Wednesday night and said he wanted to do more for the youth in the community,” Pastor Paul Sims, of St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church, told the crowd gathered at the vigil. “Anyone who knew Larry Neuman knew he would’ve done whatever he could for those two young men in that video.”
The charges were announced just two days after 16-year-old Raysean Comer was charged in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Jai’Mani Amir Rivera on the Near West Side.
Foxx said it was "horrifying" to "bookend our weeks with press conferences like this."
"Last week, it was a child," she said. "Today, it's an elder. And their common thread is other children taking their lives."
Both teens were charged as adults. The boy accused of killing Neuman is expected to appear at a detention hearing Tuesday.
Snelling said officials, parents and community members need to send a resounding message "that this type of behavior is not only unacceptable, it's deplorable."
"We have teenagers taking lives, and then taking the lives of each other," he said. "So we're seeing this trend, and something has to be done to stop it."
