Updated 1/11/12 4:45 p.m.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials, along with family and friends said goodbye to their fallen colleague and loved one, Off. Clifton Lewis, Jan. 5, at the officer’s funeral.
Lewis was gunned down on Dec. 29, while working his part-time security job at M&M Quick Foods in Austin.
On Saturday Jan. 7, two men were charged in connection with the fatal shooting. Tyrone Clay, 29, and Edgardo Colon, 34, both of Chicago, were charged with murder while in commission of a forcible felony, as well as first-degree murder of a peace officer, according to Chicago Police News Affairs. Lewis, 41, was an 8-year veteran cop who lived and worked in Austin. Bail was denied for the two offenders.
Lewis’ funeral took place at United Baptist Church, 4242 W. Roosevelt, in West Garfield Park.
According to police, Colon confessed he was the driver during the attack, while Clay and a third man entered the store with masks on. Lewis announced he was a police officer, and Clay and the third man opened fire. Lewis fired one shot before he was struck in the abdomen and back. Bullet fragments also struck a store employee.
Lewis worked off-duty at M&M Foods, 1201 W. Austin, where he was a security guard, and was also assigned to the 15th District Tactical Team.
Clay took about $670 from the cash register while the other man took Lewis’ gun before they fled to the waiting car, according to The Chicago Tribune. Court documents also show that a fourth person who worked on planning the robbery was in the car when all four drove to the store.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy said at a Jan. 7, press conference that police were “not even close” to being done with the investigation, according to the Trib.
In all, four suspects are in custody in connection with the shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
One of the four men is a 34-year-old parolee who was ordered held without bond last Friday on an unrelated gun charge. The parolee, whom the paper did not name because he is not charged in the death of Officer Lewis, was in a car that was stopped Tuesday for making an improper turn.
Tactical officers stopped the car in an effort to gather information about the Dec. 29, shooting.
Police found a .357-caliber handgun with two live rounds in the car, the Sun-Times reported. The man appeared in Cook County Criminal Court Friday, the day after funeral services were held for Lewis. The other three suspects are in custody at the Grand-Central detective headquarters.
Chicago Police News Affairs would not confirm that there were suspects in custody.
Police have said two masked men came into the store to rob it before shooting Lewis, eventually getting away with hundreds of dollars. Lewis’ weapon was missing, along with the TEC-9 semiautomatic weapon police believe was used to shoot him.
