Police: Teens Keshawn Marzette and William Larson killed trying to rob Auburn Gresham liquor store

Two teenagers were shot to death Saturday night while trying to rob a South Side liquor store, according to police. | Daniel Brown / Sun-Times Wire

Two armed teenagers--Keshawn Marzette and William Larson--were shot to death by an employee Saturday night as they tried to rob a liquor store in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.

Officers responded to a call of an attempted robbery at Z&S Food and Liquor, at 1351 W. 87th St., just after 8:30 p.m., authorities said.

Two teenagers walked into the store about 30 minutes earlier and announced a robbery. When one of the suspects showed a handgun, a male employee took out his own weapon and fatally shot the two would-be robbers, according to Chicago Police.

They were identified as the 15-year-old Marzette and 17-year-old Larson, both of the 8300 block of South Throop, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Detectives are investigating to see if the suspects were responsible for any other robberies, according to a police source.

Crime scene tape cordoned off the strip mall and parking lot where the liquor store and a fish market are located. A small crowd gathered on the sidewalk, and some said they knew the owner or employee who shot and killed the two robbers.

“They tried to rob the store,” said Bruce Jones, 53, who witnessed the shooting across the street. “And [the owner] knocked their noodles back… It’s the second time they were robbed.”

Jones and an employee at the Citgo Gas Station across the street, Fares Mohamed, 42, said the store was robbed within the last few years. They said the owner and the robber shot each other in that incident.

The owner was probably afraid the robbers were going to kill him, Mohamed said.

“Dude [wasn’t] playing that, and he got their a–,” Jones said. “[The owner] is a good guy but this is the second time he killed a motherf—–.”

As the crowd stood by the yellow tape on the sidewalk, a silver SUV pulled up. The driver asked them what happened, and members of the crowd said the owner shot someone.

“Damn!” the driver yelled. “[The owner] shot someone again!”