One would-be robber was fatally shot and a second seriously wounded during a confrontation with the owners of an Oak Park pawnshop, police said Friday.
It was the second deadly crime involving an Oak Park establishment in three months, but with a much different conclusion.
When the owner of a nearby jewelry store was shot to death during a robbery three months ago, employees of a neighboring store recalled that the operators of A & A Jewelry and Electronics at 811 N. Harlem Ave. vowed that the same thing would not happen at their pawnshop.
Neither Oak Park police nor the owners of the shop, identified as Alex Boudros and Joseph Pecororo, would give many details on what transpired there Friday.
Police issued a press release that said the shooting came after a struggle that began when one of the suspects pulled out a large-caliber handgun and announced a robbery. While witnesses said Boudros and Pecororo were taken from the store in handcuffs, they were released after being questioned.
When asked later about what had happened, Boudros replied, “All I can say is my partner Joe and I are basically OK and other than that it’s an ongoing investigation and so I can’t comment.”
Neither of the suspects was identified. The wounded man was listed in critical condition at Loyola Medical Center, where his companion was pronounced dead.
It was not immediately known whether the men were shot with their own weapon or by one carried by the shop owners.
While possession of handguns is illegal in Oak Park, the owner of a neighboring resale shop said Boudros and Pecororo had been extremely concerned about security after the slaying of Mark Feldman on Dec. 17 in his jewelry store at 205 N. Harlem Ave.
She said the two not only kept a handgun handy but also wore remote alarm devices around their necks to signal authorities. A worker at a video store in the same building as the pawnshop said one of the owners regularly carried a gun in his belt.
Three Chicago people, Tyrone Fuller, 25; Kimberly Britt, 23; and Eric Hughes, 26, have been charged in the Feldman slaying.