After the family of a Chicago security guard who was shot and killed by police launched a fundraiser to pay for his funeral, Kanye West has stepped up to help them in a major way.
On Sunday, Nov. 11, 26-year-old Jemel Roberson was shot and killed when he took down an armed man who opened fire on Manny’s Blue Room Bar in the early hours of the morning. When Roberson, who worked as pub’s security guard, had successfully apprehended the suspect, cops who arrived on the scene fired upon him.
(Gary Gershoff/WireImage/GoFundMe)
Despite witnesses shouting that Roberson was doing his job, he was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Roberson’s family launched a GoFundMethe following Monday and TMZ reported Friday, Nov. 16 that West, who is from Chicago, was moved by the story. West gifted the late guard’s family with $150,000 as a result, firmly putting the family over its initial goal of $10,000.
Since then, the goal has been changed to $150,000, but donors have remained charitable and the total now sits at $311,000.
Family attorney Lee Merritt told CNN Thursday, Nov. 15 that the guard had picked up extra shifts at the bar in order to give his 9-month-old son, Tristan, Christmas presents.
The baby’s mother Avontae Boose, told the news outlet Tristan has been asking about Roberson.
“He’s just been calling [for] his dad,” said Boose, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child. “I’m going to tell them when they get older — when they get real older — what happened to their father. That he was a hero, and he saved a lot of people.”
As the state police investigation continues, the Midlothian Police have not identified the officer who shot Roberson. Chief Daniel Delaney has, however, said he is a white male who has worked with the department for around four years. The cop currently on paid administrative leave, as is standard MPD policy.
