When police arrived after reports of a shooting over the weekend at a bar outside Chicago, witnesses say Jemel Roberson, a 26-year-old security guard who worked there, had already subdued the alleged assailant in the parking lot, pinning him to the ground.
Adam Harris, who was at Manny's Blue Bar in Robbins at the time of the incident on Sunday, told WGN-TV that Roberson was holding "somebody on the ground with his knee in his back, with his gun in his back" when officers from neighboring Midlothian got there early Sunday.
Midlothian Police Chief Daniel Delaney said that's when one of his officers "encountered a subject with a gun" and shot him, according to a statement given to the media.
But the "subject" was Roberson, not the suspect in the bar shooting.
On Tuesday, Illinois State Police issued a statement saying that "a Midlothian Police Officer encountered a subject in plain black clothing with no markings readily identifying him as a Security Guard, armed with a gun in the west parking lot."
"According to witness statements, the Midlothian Officer gave the armed subject multiple verbal commands to drop the gun and get on the ground before ultimately discharging his weapon and striking the subject," the statement said.
Roberson was holding a firearm he was licensed to carry. Other witnesses, and a lawsuit filed by Roberson's family, reportedly said he was wearing a hat emblazoned with the word "security."
"Everybody was screaming out 'Security!' " Harris told WGN. "And they still did their job, and saw a black man with a gun, and basically killed him."
Another witness, Jakia Woods, told member station WBEZ's Miles Bryan that Roberson was wearing an orange vest and the hat marked "security."
She said it was "absolutely clear" that he was a security guard.
