Judge orders teen detained in killing of retired Chicago police bomb technician

The 16-year-old boy suspected of killing retired Chicago police Officer Larry Neuman was ordered detained Tuesday after prosecutors described a brazen daytime shooting outside Neuman’s Garfield Park home. 

The teen, Lazarious Watt, was identified in video surveillance by four witnesses who knew him from the neighborhood, authorities told a Cook County judge during a detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Watt, a Garfield Park resident who has pending juvenile cases, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in connection with Neuman’s shooting death after turning himself in. 

“The defendant is a threat to the community based on his actions,” Judge Antara Rivera said as she ordered Neuman be detained. “Everyone should feel safe at home whether you’re inside or outside, and the defendant violated that.” 

Prosecutors said Neuman, 73, was outside his home last Thursday in the 4300 block of West Monroe Street getting ready to pay a man who had helped mow his lawn when he was approached by two gunmen wearing ski masks. 

When Neuman reached for his own gun, one of the gunmen fired shots. Authorities said they are still searching for that suspect. As the witness ran to escape, he saw Watt aim his firearm at Neuman, and Neuman fired a single round in return, prosecutors alleged. The masked gunmen then ran down an alley.

Neuman fell to the ground after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and leg, and was pronounced dead a short time later at Stroger Hospital. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide. 

Neuman served with the U.S. Marines, retired as the longest-serving explosives technician for the Police Department and spoke out against violent crime as a pastor after he left the department, said police Superintendent Larry Snelling.

Snelling called Neuman’s killing a “brazen and senseless act of violence” and said Neuman “would have done whatever he could” to help a teen who was at risk of being involved with violent crime.

Police recovered video from surveillance cameras that showed Watt and the other suspect walking from Neuman’s home throughout the neighborhood. Prosecutors said the shooting itself was also captured on video from a distance, but that specific details can’t be seen. 

Right before the shooting, another witness was riding his bike past Neuman’s house and saw two people exiting the alley. Prosecutors said the witness identified Watt in a lineup as one of those people. Another neighbor also observed the two men running through a vacant lot, prosecutors said. 

Prosecutors said that at the time of the shooting, Watt was in court-ordered home confinement after repeatedly violating an electronic monitoring agreement in a separate juvenile court case, facing charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He’s also expected to be charged with vehicular hijacking in a March incident, prosecutors said. 

Watt’s public defender, Molly Schranz, questioned the quality of the surveillance footage, and whether the identification of Watt might have been motivated by the “substantial” reward. She described Watt as an active member of the community who works part time and attends school, and has shown he’s willing to cooperate with the investigation by turning himself in. 

Prosecutors said in response that there is more than sufficient video and eyewitness evidence to implicate Watt. 

“The video captured of this defendant and the co-defendant immediately before was in the area with heavy-looking items in both of their pockets,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord. “You know what the heavy-looking items are — firearms.”