Chicagopolice arrested and charged a third man in the 2011 shooting of aChicagopolice officer moonlighting as a security guard at anAustinconvenience store.
Officer Clifton Lewis, 41, was shot during a robbery Dec. 29, 2011 at M & M Quick Foods, 1201 N. Austin. Lewis was an eight-year veteran of the department and was assigned to the 15th District Tactical Team.
Two other suspects were arrested and charged in the crime only two weeks after the shooting.
The third suspect, Alexander Villa, of the 4500 block ofWest Altgeld Street, has been charged with first-degree murder of a police officer and aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, as well as armed robbery, according to Chicago Police News Affairs.
The third suspect has been sought by police for almost two years.
Villa, 25, was charged on Nov. 22 and was scheduled to appear in bond court on Nov. 23, according to police.
“It is a measure of comfort to bring to justice the dangerous and despicable individuals who committed this horrible act,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in a press statement to the media.
McCarthy called the murder of Officer Lewis, “a tragic loss to his family, friends, and colleagues, as well as the entire City ofChicago.”
Two weeks after the December 2011 shooting, police arrested two men, Edgardo Colon, then 34, and Tyrone “Shawty Trip” Clay, then 29 — Colon was a convicted felon out on parole at that time.
Colonconfessed that he was the driver during the attack, while Clay and a third man, now believed to be Villa, entered the store with masks on, according to police.
Lewis announced he was a police officer, and Clay and Villa allegedly opened fire. Lewis fired one shot before he was struck in the abdomen and back. Bullet fragments also struck a store employee, according to police.
Clay took about $670 from the cash register while Villa allegedly took Lewis’ gun before they fled to the waiting car.Colonand Clay were indicted in February of 2012 of first-degree murder of a police officer and murder in commission of a forcible felony.
