CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Murder charges have been filed in a death of a 55-year-old woman who was caught in crossfire between a security guard and another man down the street from police headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.
Security guard Victor Brown, 34, is charged with first degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
He is accused of exchanging gunfire with a man he had been arguing with around 4 p.m. in the 200 block of East 35th Street. One of the dozen or so shots fatally hit Bobbye Johnson, 55, who was standing nearby, Chicago police said.
Brown was hit in the thigh, but kept firing as the other man ran away, at one point grabbing another gun from a concealed carry holder, according to a police report. One of the guard’s shots hit Johnson in the chest, the report said.
Brown — who has a record of felony convictions for domestic battery and armed robbery — had gotten into an argument with the other man on Monday outside Wood’s Food & Liquor on the block, according to police.
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The man returned Tuesday and another argument broke out, police said. The man pulled out a gun and fired at Brown, according to police. Brown drew his own gun and fired back, then continued firing from the gun he took from the concealed carry holder.
"She did not deserve to die in the streets of Chicago," said Pastor Scott Onque, of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, where the victim, Bobbye Johnson was in the choir.
"When you think about the recklessness, that he was just shooting and he reloaded," he told CBS 2. "It's so brazen. That's the police headquarters. Is there any regard of authority? Any regard of life?"
Two ShotSpotter alerts brought officers to the scene, where as many as 14 rounds had been fired and shell casings could be seen near the store’s entrance. A weapon was recovered, police said.
Cook County court records show Brown has been arrested at least 10 times, including for illegal gun possession, battery, domestic battery, and armed robbery. Most of the cases were dropped, but he pleaded guilty to domestic battery in 2015 and armed robbery without a firearm in 2010.
He was given 100 days in Cook County Jail on the first case, and six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on the other.
Brown's employer, Bounty TAC Force, told CBS 2, he was a recent hire and passed a background check.
He is now charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon, police said. He was scheduled to appear in court later Friday.
Police are still looking for the unidentified man who fired the first shot.
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(WBBM Newsradio and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this copy.)