26-year-old Jemel Roberson was shot and killed early Sunday morning for simply doing his job.
According to the authorities Jemel Roberson was in the process of detaining an individual, outside of Manny’s Blue Room Lounge in Robbins Illinois, who he believed to be in involved in a shooting within the club. When a police officer arrived to the scene it is unclear whether or not the officer could identify the word Security that was clearly printed on Roberson’s black clothing, but, according to witness’s, many individuals within the crowd were screaming that Roberson was in fact a security guard. Bystanders state that the responding officer shot the man seconds after ordering him to drop his weapon. Roberson who put his own life in harms way to bravely pin the shooter to the ground is now being called a hero for potentially saving many lives that night.
It is said that Roberson who is the father of a 9 month old boy with another baby on the way was just working extra shifts to buy Christmas presents for his son and his pregnant girlfriend, Avontae Boose.
“A family member called and told me. I just broke down crying in the bathroom. For a long time I was in the bathroom,” says the distressed mother and girlfriend. Though their 9 month old son, Tristan, is too young to understand what is going on, he knows he is missing his father. Avontae tells reporters that he just keeps calling for his dad.
This tragedy has left many throughout the community demanding answers for what occurred that morning.
According to CNN, Illinois state police have taken over the case and have yet to identify the officer who shot Roberson. The only details they have released to the public so far is that the Midlothian officer is white and has been with the Midlothian Police Department for four years. According to the Chicago Tribune the officer is currently on paid leave while the state police Public Integrity Task Force investigate.
Midlothian Police Chief, Daniel Delaney, has described the shooting as an innocent blue on blue friendly fire incident leaving the Roberson family attorney, Lee Merritt, to disagree stating that “if this was a case where they saw this as friendly fire, as if a police officer was shot, then this would be handled much differently,” adding that there would be more transparency. Merritt believes that authorities should publicize the name of the officer that shot Jemel Roberson. “It’s important to put the name and face out in the public spectrum because it allows the community to report if this officer has a history of brutality,” he tells reporters.
As for Avontae Boose, she must now prepare and decide what she will say to tell her two young children about their father one day. She states that “I’m going to tell them when they get older — When they get real older — what happened to their father. That he was a hero, and he saved a lot of people.”
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