$4.8 Million Verdict In Case Involving Man Fatally Shot By Security Guard

October 2, 2019

CHICAGO, IL (October 2, 2019) – A jury reached a verdict of $4.8 million Tuesday in a case brought by the mother of a man fatally shot by a security guard at a Chicago Housing Authority complex in 2016.

In the early hours of June 18, 2016, a 24-year-old man was attending a party at a housing complex in Chicago when four security guards with the Kates Detective & Security Services Agency pulled up. Shooting broke out soon after, leaving the man dead and two security guards wounded.

The man had been shot twice in the back, according to court documents.

The Kates Detective & Security Services Agency had been hired to provide security at the complex.

In 2017, the mother of the man who was shot filed suit against the Kates Detective & Security Services Agency in Cook County Circuit Court.

The defense argued that the security guards fired in self-defense. They claimed the man who was shot was the aggressor, engaging in a verbal and physical altercation with the guards before the shooting. Though the man did have a gun, he never fired it.

But yesterday, the jury disagreed with the defense and found the guard responsible for the shooting.

“The jury understood that there was no reason for what happened that night,” said attorney Ben Crane of Coplan & Crane, the law firm representing the man’s mother. “The negligent actions of the security guards led to this tragic loss of life.” Ben Crane tried the case with assistance of attorney Ervin Nevitt.

During trial, Nevitt said that licensing irregularities with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation were uncovered, and the jury agreed that the guard should not have been endorsed by Kates to be licensed as an armed security guard.

About Coplan & Crane

Coplan & Crane handles a variety of cases involving negligence that has resulted in personal injury. The firm’s practice areas include medical malpractice as well as car and truck crashes, train accidents, workers’ compensation and other personal injury cases.