Slain courthouse officers remembered

The looming federal courthouse in Chicago's Loop is considered a "fortress of safety."

But 25 years ago, a violent and despondent bank robber managed to gun down two officers there in a futile attempt to flee the building, only to die near a Jackson Boulevard sidewalk at the height of the evening rush.

On Thursday, the son of one of the slain officers stood in the courthouse lobby near a plaque bearing his father's name. And there, he asked the judges, U.S. marshals and others working at the courthouse today to "remember this, so it never happens again."

"My father, Harry, was a true hero, not only for what he did 25 years ago today, but for what he did every day," Michael Belluomini said.

Harry Belluomini, a court security officer and retired Chicago police officer, and Roy Frakes, a deputy U.S. marshal, died July 20, 1992, while trying to stop bank robber Jeffrey Erickson from escaping the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

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