Jesse Kazmierski / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
After Jesse Kazmierski and two others robbed a retired Chicago Police sergeant during a deadly home invasion on the Far South Side, he admitted “We did something stupid,” Cook County prosecutors said.
Believing 73-year-old Elmer Brown and his wife had a lot of money in a safe, the three drove from Indiana to Chicago on March 10 hoping to get their hands on the loot.
But they ended up leaving without the cash, instead fleeing with the Browns’ other property, including a handgun and a knife, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said.
Brown, who was shot once in the face during the incident near East 115th Street and South Avenue G, died two weeks later.
The 38-year Chicago Police veteran’s wife had been lying face down on the ground when she heard a gunshot, Santini said.
When she looked up, she saw her husband lying in the hallway.
The assailant holding the weapon allegedly told the 72-year-old woman, “Keep your head down bitch or I’ll f------ blow your head off too.”
Prosecutors said it was unclear who pulled the trigger because Kazmierski, 18, and the other suspect made their way inside the residence with sweatshirts pulled tightly around their faces.
There was no mention during Kazmierski’s Thursday bond hearing if and how the Browns knew him.
The couple was watching television when Kazmierski and one of his cohorts rang the doorbell last spring, Santini said.
“Help, we need help,” one allegedly said.
Brown’s wife was opening the screen door when Kazmierski and the other suspect pushed their way inside, knocking the elderly woman to the floor, Santini said.
They demanded to know where the safe was and Brown told them it was located upstairs, Santini said.
However, the suspect who ransacked the home ended up coming downstairs, telling the other, “I can’t get it, Let’s get out of here,” Santini said.
The trio fled back to Indiana after the crime, Santini said. That’s where Kazmierski allegedly came clean.
Kazmierski gave the knife that was taken from the Browns’ home to the person he told about the crime, Santini said.
The knife has since been recovered from the Hammond, Ind. man’s home.
Judge James Brown ordered Kazmierski -- who allegedly confessed to detectives -- held without bond for murder and home invasion.
The two others have not been charged.
Brown’s wife, Mary Ann, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
In March, she told the Sun-Times that her spouse was “a wonderful father and husband.”