A retired Chicago police officer who was also an ordained minister and Transportation Security Administration explosives specialist was shot to death Thursday morning in West Garfield Park, authorities said.
The 73-year-old was found about 11:30 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds in the 4300 block of West Monroe Street, Chicago police said.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was identified as Larry Neuman of West Garfield Park by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“He spent his entire career safeguarding our city and spent his retirement as a reverend, speaking out against the violent crime that’s plaguing our neighborhoods,” Supt. Larry Snelling said Thursday during the Chicago Police Board’s meeting at police headquarters. “Please keep his family in your thoughts.”
Neuman was a bomb technician who retired in 2010. He worked at the police department for 28 years.
A transportation security explosives specialist, Neuman joined the TSA in 2010 and worked at O’Hare and Midway airports, said a spokesperson for the agency. In his current position, Neuman trained the screening workforce at both airports to detect explosives and other potential threats.
“We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” the spokesperson said.
Neuman was a “pillar” of his beloved West Garfield Park community, according to Pastor Paul Sims of St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church. Neuman had been a member of the church for 30 years.
“He was the kindest man you knew. There wasn’t anything that Larry Neuman wouldn’t do for somebody. If you needed it and if he didn’t have it, he would go get it for you.”
Neuman was an ordained preacher and part of the ministerial staff at the church, 4106 W. Monroe St., which is near his home, Sims said. Neuman enjoyed sharing his wisdom with young people, never hesitating to offer advice.
“He would stop and talk to any and everybody,” Sims said. “He would encourage you no matter what you were doing in life, no matter what it was he would stop and talk to somebody.”
Neuman was a veteran of the Marines who served in the Vietnam War, Sims said.
“He was a family man, he was a grandfather, he loved his grandchildren, he loved helping me at the church with the young people,” Sims said. “He was a great man, he was a great person.”
