Chicago’s cesspool of violence continues to grow. Sadly, even the innocent serve as backstops for bad guy shots on a regular basis in America’s largest open-air shooting gallery. Among the latest victims, Bobbye Johnson, a grandmother shot by an armed robber security guard’s errant rounds fired four blocks away – at a suspect a block from the guard.
Did we mention the so-called security guard, Victor Brown, 34, was employed by Bounty TAC Force, had convictions for not only armed robbery but domestic battery? And he had multiple warrants for his arrest out of Wisconsin? We left a message with the CEO of Bounty TAC Force seeking further information and comment, but he has not returned the call.
Oh, but wait, there’s more!
The armed security guard packed a starter pistol, and after a getting into an altercation with some guy nicknamed “Renegade,” things escalated. A witness said the guard, Mr. Brown, acted belligerently and put his fists in Renegade’s face. At this point Renegade reportedly fired a shot from his pocket which struck Mr. Brown in the foot. Renegade then fled.
Brown accessed his starter pistol and fired “shots” at the fleeing Renegade. Then a second armed security officer approached to render aid. Brown wrested control of that guard’s gun and fired twenty (20!) plus additional rounds at the fleeing Renegade who was now a block away.
One of those rounds struck Ms. Johnson, a grandmother and regular choir member at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in South Shore as she stepped out of a bank four blocks away. Hit in the chest, she died.
It didn’t take police long to put the crime scenes together and arrest Victor Brown on a host of charges. And the warrants, which at this point are the least of his concerns.
Breaking: The Security Guard involved in a shootout on 35th street earlier this week is being questioned by police.
Sources say one of his stray bullets hit and killed Bobbye Johnson as she left the bank. She was 55. https://t.co/oZ2eGpnsvF pic.twitter.com/IrLTzal7Se— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 4, 2022
CBS2 Chicago has the sad story:
A security guard for a Bronzeville liquor store has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a Chicago grandmother dead, accused of grabbing another security guard’s gun and recklessly firing 20 shots down the street after another man had shot him in the foot during an argument.
Victor Brown, 34, is facing one felony count of first-degree murder and one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon in Bobbye Johnson’s death. She was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon as she stepped out of the Chase Bank at 3500 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., about four blocks away from the liquor store where Brown was working…
Prosecutors said Victor Brown was working security at Wood’s Food and Liquor and Jamaican Jerk King restaurant at 35th Street and Indiana Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, when he got into an argument with another man, who goes by the nickname “Renegade,” and had been an issue on the block in the past, and had been banned from the store and restaurant…
Police and prosecutors said Brown then grabbed the other security guard’s gun, sat up, and fired a total of 20 shots at the gunman while he was more than a block away on a busy street. The nurse who witnessed the shooting told police she screamed at Brown to stop shooting.
A stray bullet struck Johnson in the chest as she was about four blocks away. She was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
CBS 2 has learned that Brown barely had any training as a security guard.
The owner of Bounty TAC Force, which employed Brown, said the guard had just been hired and had worked about 10 shifts. The owner confirmed Brown was the security guard working outside Wood’s Food and Liquor at 35th Street and Indiana Avenue on Tuesday, when he got into a shootout…
Brown has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2005, involving armed robbery and domestic battery. Prosecutors said he also is wanted on arrest warrants in Madison County for speeding and driving on a suspended license, is facing three open speeding cases in DuPage County, and served five years in prison after pleading guilty to armed robbery charges in 2010.
A quick search for the company turned up a listing on Yelp. Their business hours are 10am – 2pm Monday through Friday. The listing also includes some photos.
Also from the CBS2 Chicago story:
The owner of the security company said he did do a background check but did not know Brown had a record…
The owner said Brown came in with standard 20- and 40-hour security training certificates.
The owner Bounty TAC Force has not returned a call for comment and explanation about what sort of background check failed to disclose armed robbery and domestic violence convictions, and what sort of training certificates and licenses were furnished by Mr. Brown.
As fate would have it, I did speak with a legitimate security company owner and the information he shared proved priceless. In Illinois, an armed security guard must have a FOID card, a company ID card, a “PERC” card which is basically a 20-hour certification on the use of deadly force, and a Firearms Control Card (which is received after the now, as of January 1, 2022, 28-hours of range and classroom time in the safe and proper use of a firearm).
The 48-hours of required training for armed security in Illinois is expensive and there’s a mountain of paperwork for legitimate companies to comply with the Land of Lincoln’s law. Furthermore, the insurance rates are astronomical. Of course, the cost of failing to maintain all these requirements is not only great financial liability but potential criminal violations as well.
A quick license look up at the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation website did not turn up any of the required registrations for Bounty TAC Force or its owner, Khephren Ferguson.
The bottom line is that this isn’t the first time a “security” guard in Chicago has shot and killed an innocent person. Last September, a non-compliant registered sex offender and four-time convicted felon working as an armed “security guard” shot and killed someone after an altercation over wearing a China flu face covering. Then he claimed self-defense – claiming the unmasked man posed an immediate threat of death or great bodily injury…because COVID, you know.
It’s unknown if Mr. Brown will, through his attorney, claim self-defense against a man over a hundred yards away, running away from him. Like the sex offender last year, the claim will likely not pass muster in Cook County. Or probably anywhere else in America.
What is known is that Chicago’s personal injury lawyers will surely be beating down the door of Ms. Johnson’s family seeking to represent her in a claim.
Chicago isn’t safe but the mayor is. She now has 112 Police officers assigned to her for her protection. And now she is making the swat team also provide security for her on top of that. They recently move elderly 45 officers from administrative positions back on the street to combat violent crime, but she has 112 officers and the swat team just for her? I call that left wing privilege, a person is shot every 3 hours and 30 minutes in Chicago, a person is killed every 15 hours. Wouldn’t the 100 police officers and the swat team be better utilized protecting the citizens of Chicago? I guess not.