Two Chicago men have been charged in connection with the slaying of an off-duty Chicago police officer, according to department sources.
Clifton Lewis, 41, an eight-year police veteran, was fatally shot during a Dec. 29 robbery at a West Side convenience store.
Sources said Tyrone Clay, 29, of the 5100 block of West Huron Street and Edgardo Colon, 34, of the 1100 block of North Central Park Avenue, were both charged early Saturday morning with murder while in commission of a forcible felony and first degree murder of a peace officer.
Colon was arrested Tuesday by police for making an improper turn in his vehicle, authorities said. A .357-caliber handgun with two live rounds was found, they said.Colon clutched a baseball hat in his hands and shook his head in court Friday as prosecutors detailed the charge of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He was ordered held without bond on an unrelated gun charge, and is on parole for a conviction for home invasion.
Lewis was off-duty from his police job and working security when two masked robbers burst into M&M Quick Foods at 1201 N. Austin Blvd., opened fire with a gun — akin to a TEC-9 — and fatally wounded him, police said.
Lewis took the part-time job at the store after it was robbed Dec. 9. The two crimes appear unrelated.
Lewis drew and fired his weapon, according to police, who declared that he had died in the line of duty as a result, affording him a funeral service and honors. He had become engaged Christmas Day, four days before his death.
Sources said cash was stolen from the register and the officer’s gun is missing.
A third person who was being question was released without charges.
State records show Colon was sentenced to six years in prison in April 2007 for a home invasion in which he was armed with a firearm, a class X felony. He was paroled in October 2009.
Before that, he was sentenced to four years for manufacturing or delivering one to fifteen grams of cocaine in 2006 and one year for obstruction of justice in 2005.
He was first in Illinois Department of Corrections custody in August of 1999 for a variety of gun and marijuana charges, sentenced for three crimes to a total of four years, according to records.
This guy should have been in prison until at least 2013.
We are calling for the FOP to immediately begin backing a truth-in-sentencing law so that these parolees remain in prison so they don't kill citizens and police officers. This should be priority #1 along with pension legislation. How many parolees are out there killing people that we have written about over the last several months to a year?