Cops: Charges filed after robber with fake gun foiled by clerk with real one

Police say a robber tried to hold up an electronics store in West Rogers Park with a fake gun but was foiled when the clerk pulled a real gun from a safe and opened fire.

Lawrence Bradley, 25, and of the 15200 block of Evers Street in Dolton, was charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery, both of which are felonies, according to a police News Affairs statement. Bradley is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.  

The incident happened around 5:30 p.m. Monday when Bradley walked through the front door of the electronics shop in the 2900 block of West Devon Avenue and aimed the gun at the clerk and demanded money, police said.

Then the clerk reached into the safe and pulled out a real gun and fired twice, stopping only because the gun jammed, police said.

Bradley grabbed the clerk’s gun and pistol-whipped him in the face and head, then ran out the store and jumped into a blue PT Cruiser driven by a woman, police said.

The clerk stumbled out of the store and a worker next door came to his aid, according to the police report. The 23-year-old clerk was taken to Saint Francis Hospital, where he was treated for small lacerations on the left side of his face and on the top of his head, according to fire officials.

Police caught up with Bradley when he walked into Franciscan St. Margaret Health Hospital in Hammond, Ind., with gunshot wounds, authorities said.

The clerk’s gun was recovered in the 5300 block of South Morgan Street after Bradley “implicated himself,” according to a police report. He had left the fake gun in the store, police said.Dolton is about 6 miles from the hospital in Hammond.

Bradley was among seven people shot across Chicago Monday night:

• A 30-year-old man was fatally shot at about 8 p.m. on the 6000 block of South Talman Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side, officials said. The man, identified as Jose Rodriguez, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a spokesman with the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived on the same block in which he was shot.

• About 8:40 p.m., a 22-year-old was shot during a robbery in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. He walked into Loretto Hospital and told police he had been shot near the intersection of Jackson Bouelvard and Lotus Avenue. He’s in good condition, police said.

• At about 7:13 p.m., a 28-year-old man was shot on the 1600 block of South Homan Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood on the South Side, said News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where his condition had stabilized, O’Brien said.

• At 6:33 p.m., a 24-year-old man was shot on the 800 block of North Lavergne Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, Hernandez said. The man was shot in the neck and was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, officials said.

• About an hour later, at 6:09 p.m., a 21-year-old man was also critically injured in a shooting on the 5000 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side, said Hernandez. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment.

• The first shooting Monday happened at 5:06 p.m. on the 8700 block of South Racine Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, according to Hernandez. A 23-year-old man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center, Hernandez said.

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