Elbert Duncan Charged With Shooting Security Guard Victor Brown, Who In Turn Is Accused Of Firing Down Street And Killing Grandmother Bobbye Johnson
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Charges have been filed against a man police said earlier this month shot and wounded a security guard, who in turn fired down 35th Street in Bronzeville and struck and killed 55-year-old Bobbye Johnson.
Elbert Duncan, 47, was charged with aggravated battery by discharge of a firearm. He appeared in bond court Tuesday after being arrested the day before.
Johnson had just paid her rent at Chase Bank at 35th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on the afternoon of Feb. 1, and called her daughter to say she'd be home soon. Three minutes after that phone call, the 55-year-old grandmother of six was shot in the chest.
Police and prosecutors have said the shooting stemmed from a quarrel between liquor store security guard Victor Brown, and Duncan, who was reportedly nicknamed "Renegade."
As seen on store surveillance video, the two men got into an argument at Wood's Food and Liquor at 35th Street and Indiana Avenue – two full city blocks away from the Chase Bank branch where Johnson was at the time.
Surveillance video showed Duncan with his hands in his pockets as he argued with Brown, who put both of his fists near the man's face, authorities said. Prosecutors said a nurse who was waiting at a nearby bus stop claimed Brown was "acting belligerently" and saw him walk up to the man and threaten him, raising his fists at him, before Duncan shot Brown in his right thigh by firing a gun through his coat pocket. Brown is seen on video falling to the ground and firing blanks from his starter pistol as Duncan runs away, down the block, authorities said.
Then, Brown is seen on surveillance video reaching for a real gun from another security guard. Prosecutors say Brown fired that gun 20 times on a busy street - with one of those bullets hitting Bobbye Johnson in her chest.
Brown now faces murder charges in Johnson's death.
Johnson's family is also suing the businesses for which Brown worked, accusing them of failing to conduct a proper background check or provide him with sufficient training.
The family is suing Brown; Bounty TAC Force, the security company that Brown worked for; as well as the three businesses where he was working at the time of the shooting – Jamaican Jerk King restaurant, Wood's Food & Liquor, and Games R Us. The lawsuit accuses the businesses of wrongful death.
Despite being a security guard, Brown has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2005, involving armed robbery and domestic battery. Lambert said Bounty TAC Force either failed to conduct a background check on Brown before hiring him, or their background check was flawed if it did not reveal his extensive criminal record.
