Carpentersville police: Employee fatally shot armed robber
The events of an armed robbery at Oscarin's Computer in Carpentersville unfolded quickly for owner Oscar Torres.
Two men he had never seen before held up the store he has owned for five years. Torres and his employee were restrained and threatened. Thieves escaped with their hard-earned cash.
But the scene Torres keeps replaying from that Wednesday night is of the instant his employee fatally shot one of the robbers.
“I have that moment in my head all the time,” he said
Torres and the employee were alone in the store at 1646 Ravine Lane when two men armed with handguns entered about 7:30 p.m. and demanded money, he said. The suspects restrained Torres and the employee with zip ties and started searching the store, which offers technology repair and money transfer services.
When they broke through the zip ties, one robber hit the employee in the head with a pistol and threatened to kill them if they moved, Torres said.
The thieves found money and left the store about five minutes later, he said, at which point the employee grabbed a handgun and followed the robbers into the parking lot.
He told them to stop, Torres said. Instead, he said, the men turned their guns on the employee, who fired several shots, he said.
One thief was struck multiple times, Carpentersville Police Chief Michael Kilbourne said in a news conference Thursday. The man, whose name is not being released, was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The Kane County coroner's office is expected to conduct an autopsy Thursday.
The other robber fled the scene in a car driven by a third person, Kilbourne said, adding the thieves escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash and some phones.
“We work hard for that money,” Torres said. “It's really hard for us. And the other thing is, we are (feeling) really bad because one guy is dead.”
Torres said he believes his employee acted appropriately. After shots were fired, he said, they tried to wake the injured robber, and Torres called 9-1-1.
“That moment - it's really hard,” he said. “I think he did the best (he could) in that moment.”
Upon hearing gunshots, Yeri Medrano, who owns Diva's Beauty Salon next door, said she immediately turned the lights off and locked the doors. She hid with customers in the back of the store for about two hours.
Two guns were recovered at the scene, Kilbourne said. Torres said his employee had a license to carry the gun he used.
Police are working to identify the two who got away, Kilbourne said, and the store employee is fully cooperating with authorities.
Carpentersville police and the Kane County state's attorney's office are continuing to investigate the situation as a robbery and a homicide.
“The use of the term 'homicide' is not to say there is any criminal intent,” Kilbourne said, “but there was one person killed by another.”
He also said police have not determined if any of the robbers fired any weapons.
Donna Sanchez, who runs a wellness center in the same building, said she hopes more security cameras and lights are installed around the area.
“(I'm concerned) not only for us but for my clients as well,” she said. “But if I'm scared, I'm going to attract negativity. I don't know that I want to feel like that.”
Kilbourne said homicides and robberies are rare occurrences in Carpentersville.
Signs in the window of Oscarin's Computer say the store is closed a few days for a police investigation.
“We have a lot of customers. We're busy all the time,” Torres said, “I'm OK if we close (a few) days because I need this time, too. My employee needs this time. We need the time.”