A group of Chicago police officers and a sergeant from the Near West District were honored Tuesday by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation for helping stop a robbery and free three hostages being held at gunpoint at a dollar store on Chicago’s West Side last month.
The robbery and standoff began about 8 p.m. Dec. 29 at a Dollar Tree, 3146 W. Madison St., near Kedzie Avenue.
“This is a small representation of the officers who played a role on that specific day,” said Sgt. Jose Lule after a small ceremony honoring the group as officers of the month and held in the lobby of the Chicago Patrolmen’s Federal Credit Union, 1407 W. Washington Blvd.
At the ceremony, the director of operations, Frank Gross, and William Condon, president of the board of the foundation, presented Lule and seven other officers with a certificate of recognition saying they acted “without the regard of their own safety.”
“Being at the ceremony makes me feel proud because it means my husband and the rest of the officers were able to create a little peace in a city like Chicago,” said Delisia Lule, the sergeant’s wife.
The foundation saluted officers Jonathan Carroll, Modesto Castellon, Jacob German, Hector Rodriguez, Jesse Santillan, Corwin Lasenby and Zachary Kuta for helping to arrest the three suspects and rescue the victims “without an incident.”
A man alerted officers Castellon and Rodriguez of the robbery after overhearing it while he was on the phone with his girlfriend, who was an employee at the store. The man directed the officers to the store, and they promptly contacted Lule, who began an immediate collaboration with the Chicago Fire Department and the store general manager.
“I worked to make sure that we kept our officers safe, but also made sure that we rescued the victims,” said Lule, who added that officers surrounded the store to prevent all possible escape routes for the robbers. Initially, police did not know how many people were inside the store and how many victims were in danger.
Lule said the standoff lasted about an hour.
“It is definitely not a day-to-day incident, and it could have gone wrong pretty quickly,” Lule added.
Police were able to enter the store using the manager’s keys and discovered three people in the security office with their hands zip tied. They then found two masked men hiding on top of a refrigeration unit and another under cardboard boxes. The cash taken during the robbery and the loaded handgun police believe was used to threaten the victims were also discovered at the scene.
Mabiti Collins, 46, Herman George, 50, and Jammie King, 44, were placed under arrest. Each man was charged with armed robbery and aggravated unlawful restraint, according to police.
Video surveillance shows the three robbers entering the store and hiding in the backroom for more than an hour before closing time, according to police. After the employees closed the doors, the three, armed with a handgun and a knife, announced a robbery, police said.
“As soon as you get to the scene, there is so much stuff going on that you don’t have time to worry about anything. You just revert back to what you know and things you’ve practiced and hope that it’s enough,” said Lasenby, who led the entry to the store with a ballistic protective shield.
The three people rescued, two women and a man, were employees at the Dollar Tree store, confirmed Lule. Aside from “mild shock,” the three were unharmed, he said.
The general manager of the store said she was not allowed to give a statement or allow any of the victims to speak regarding the incident until someone higher up in the company gave permission.
“I’m very proud of my son because he faces the risk of getting hurt every day when he goes out to work,” said Silvia Villagomez, Lule’s mother. “But he chose this profession and this mission to protect others and save lives.”
