$75,000 rewards offered after retired CPD officer, explosives technician Larry Neuman, 73, is killed in West Garfield Park shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) — Authorities are offering rewards for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the fatal shooting of CPD’s longest-serving bomb technician, killed in a shooting on the West Side Thursday.

Now, a total of $75,000 in rewards are being offered for information in the death of 73-year-old Larry Neuman.

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The awards are provided by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, ATF Chicago and FBI Chicago.

Anonymous tips can be submitted at CPDTip.com or by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-535-STOP.

The following is taken from a previous report.

The retired Chicago police officer and bomb technician was killed in a shooting Thursday on the city’s West Side.

Officer Larry Neuman was CPD’s longest-serving bomb technician before becoming an explosives specialist for TSA in 2010 after a 28-year career with CPD.

Police said a 73-year-old man was shot multiple times around 1:27 p.m. in the 4300 block of West Monroe Street in West Garfield Park. ABC7 has learned the shooting may have happened during an attempted robbery.

He was initially taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, the Chicago Fire Department said, and then was pronounced dead.

The victim was identified as former Chicago police officer Larry Neuman by 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin, who was a friend of his. He lived near the scene of the shooting.

“Larry was everywhere – working at the church, doing his police work in the community, one of the first African-American bomb technicians in the history of the department. He was just a great guy.” , Ervin said.

Neuman protected the West Side for decades and served as a pastor just steps from his family’s longtime home near Monroe and Kildare. Police and family friends said Neuman and his wife were working on their lawn when a few men arrived.

“He was at his house in the yard and three young men came. That’s what I understood: shots were fired and he was hit,” said Pastor Paul Sims. “His wife had just come in. They were cutting grass together and she had just come in, so yeah, she was right there. She heard the shots.”

“When I got there, I saw the tape, the detectives, the police cars and I knew it had to be true,” said his friend Johnnie Mae McGee. “This is not right. We deserve better than this, than this in the city of Chicago.”

McGee and Neuman were friends in high school. She spoke of him with the shock of not believing that she now had to use the past tense.

“He was my spiritual connection, he was an all-around great guy,” she said. “I wanted to call him two days ago and I couldn’t. Life is a son of a gun.”

Neuman started with the Chicago Police Department in 1982 and retired in 2010, Sims told ABC7. Neuman worked in arson and explosives for the police department, and he currently worked as a bomb assessment officer for the TSA.

“Larry Neuman, Transportation Security Specialist – Explosives, joined TSA in 2010 and has worked at O’Hare and Midway airports during his career,” a TSA spokesperson said in a communicated. “In his current position, Larry has trained screening personnel at both airports to detect explosives and other potential threats. We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

A police-led procession left Stroger Hospital around 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Squad cars and vans of bomb technicians guided an ambulance carrying the body of a retired Chicago Police Department pioneer.

Neuman’s body was escorted to the Cook County medical examiner’s office by some of the people he worked with for decades.

Officer Neuman had lived in the neighborhood where he was shot for about half a century, friends told ABC7. Neighbors appeared to have impaired visibility.

“As you can imagine, everyone is a little bit in shock right now,” said Ald. Ervin said. “Our prayers go out to the family, church members, neighbors and everyone here. This is a sad loss today for the city of Chicago.”

No one is currently in detention. A Chicago police investigation is underway.