CHICAGO — A person of interest is in police custody on Sunday night in connection with the murder of a retired CPD officer and bomb technician who was gunned down in the city’s Garfield Park neighborhood on Thursday morning.
Charges against the individual, who is reportedly a 16-year-old boy, have not yet been announced and it is believed that he was turned in by his mother.
WGN-TV crews captured the moment one of two people, who are believed to be connected to the murder of retired CPD officer Larry Neuman, was marched into the police station along West Harrison Street.
The break in the case comes only hours after those who loved Neuman marched, in mourning, through his neighborhood, remembering the marine who served his country, the officer who loved this city and the church minister whose community meant everything to him.
“When you see a person like that who stays behind in the neighborhood, when he doesn’t have to, he actually cared about the neighborhood and the people in the neighborhood,” Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling.
Neuman was outside of his home on Thursday working in his yard, when he was shot and killed. He retired in 2010, after working with CPD for 28 years. He even spent time with TSA as an explosives expert.
The former officer’s death sparked a manhunt, as police released surveillance footage of their suspects.
“You cannot call yourself a man because you tote gun. You cannot call yourself a man because you robbed someone. That doesn’t make you a great human being. What it makes you is a criminal, it makes you an armed robber. You shoot someone, it makes you a murderer,” Snelling said.
Those who gathered were hopeful that the suspects would come forward and their prayers were partially answered on Sunday night, with Neuman’s adding that they are committed to making sure his death will not be in vain.
“We’re not just coming today to pray and to do nothing,” Pastor Paul Sims of St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church said. “It’s time for change, it’s time for action.”
Details about the charges against the individual are expected to be released on Monday.