Pastor Paul Sims asked the hundreds gathered at St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church in West Garfield Park on Saturday morning to consider a world where people “served each other like Larry Neuman did.”
Neuman, a retired Chicago police officer — one of the longest serving and one of the first Black members of the Chicago Police Department’s bomb squad, a Vietnam veteran, former TSA agent and pastor at St. Michael’s — was killed earlier this month when he tried to help a man and get him “out of harm’s way” as two teens approached them with guns drawn, police said.
“He wouldn’t give you the shirt off his back; he’d take you to the store and buy you one,” Sims said during the service, where about 250 people had gathered to pay their final respects. “He lost his life while saving somebody else’s.”
The 73-year-old was found about 11:30 a.m. June 20 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.
According to Sims, Neuman was on his way to the church to discuss starting a job training program there, drawing on his past as a union plumber.
Lazarious Watt, 16, and Marquan Jones, 17, have been charged in his death. Jones was ordered detained in custody while awaiting trial Saturday as Neuman’s loved ones left the church where he preached to inter him at Oakridge Cemetery in Hillside.
While grief was certainly present, the service was largely a celebration of the 73-year-old’s legacy in multiple law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Marine Corps, his church and his community.
The church was filled beyond capacity Saturday, sending some into overflow seating and more than a dozen people standing along the back wall.
Lively gospel music was performed as several audience members stood to clap along — with CPD, TSA and other law enforcement agency officers seated between them. At the front of the room was Neuman’s casket, draped in a Chicago flag and surrounded by wreaths bearing the logos of several agencies he had worked for.
Sims, who preached at St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church alongside Neuman, said that although it was important to grieve Neuman, he also would’ve wanted everyone to recognize the “moment is bigger than this.”
“Let’s not just hold those young men accountable. ... Two young lives have now entered into the judicial system and will be locked behind bars,” Sims said. “That’s two more young people that we’ve lost. It’s time to take our streets back, it’s time to take our children back.”
Several officials also spoke at the service, including Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Illinois).
Ervin recalled the first time he saw the “trailblazing technician” in uniform at a Chicago Police Department event, remarking to his father, “I didn’t know Black folks did that.”
“On behalf of all of us, we owe Rev. Neuman, Officer Neuman, a debt of gratitude for being here,” Ervin said at the service.
Anthony Davis Jr., a former O’Hare TSA agent, said he and Neuman connected over food. Davis, being a chef, often shared recipes with him — especially Neuman’s favorite to cook, goulash.
“We’d just bounce recipes off each other and I’d tell him what I cooked over the weekend,” Davis told the Sun-Times before the service began. “It was always nice to get your mind on something other than keeping people safe.”
The two saw each other “practically every day” for several years before Neuman was transferred to Midway Airport. Davis recalled Neuman always had a smile on his face and often encouraged others to do the same.
“He was a great person, a positive person, a role model,” Davis said. “There was always something to smile about. That’s what he pushed — happiness.”
To carry on Neuman’s legacy, Davis said, “All I can tell anybody to do is to smile.”
Charles Jones, a South Side resident and retired member of CPD’s bomb squad, met Neuman in 2006 when he joined the team. Jones said Neuman was a “friend, mentor and big brother” to the whole team. In a “small field,” his knowledge was highly valued by others on the team, who would often ask Neuman questions about the job.
Jones said others in CPD had tried to get Neuman to move out of the neighborhood, fearing for his safety, but Neuman refused to leave.
“Larry always helped everyone,” Jones said. “He just had more to give, he wasn’t done. His ministry wasn’t over.”
