Reginald Lanier worried about his safety as a security guard at a grocery in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood, but he had lost his previous job and took this one to support his family, his brother said.
On Thursday night, Lanier was working at the Aldi store at 90th and Halsted streets when armed robbers shot him to death and injured a customer.
Two men wearing dark zip-up sweat shirts walked into the grocery store just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday, video surveillance shows. One approached a cashier while the other pulled a gun and shot Lanier, 54, in the head and upper torso after the guard confronted him.
The two gunmen fled the store with an unspecified amount of cash.
According to a police source, the same suspects are believed to have robbed another Aldi, at 47th and Ashland, on Oct. 28. There were no injuries during that robbery.
A 67-year-old customer was shot in the calf as she was gathering her groceries to leave the store. She was treated and released from the hospital Thursday night.
Police described robber as a black man with a medium build, in his 20s or 30s, 5-foot-11 to 6-foot-3. The other was a slender black man in his 40s or 50s, standing 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-10 and wearing glasses. In security video released by police, both appeared to be wearing all-black or dark-colored clothing, including dark-colored jackets and knit hats.
Reginald Lanier needed work after losing a railroad security job recently, said his brother, Gerald Lanier.
“He wasn’t too excited about it, but in today’s economy he had to support his family,” Lanier said. “He was concerned about the neighborhood and the job per se. The simple fact is that for that neighborhood, one security guard was not sufficient for a store in that area.”
Darlene Frye moved a few blocks from the Aldi about six months ago. She said the shooting has made her question her security.
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