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Off-Duty Sheriff's Deputy Fatally Shoots 17-Year-Old Rashad Wells For Suspected Robbery

Family members say he was shot 12 times.

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy in Cook County, Illinois, on Wednesday afternoon, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Rashad Wells was suspected of a robbery in a beauty salon on Harvard Avenue when an unidentified officer unloaded her weapon. Wells was pronounced dead on the scene, according to the medical examiner's office. 

On Wednesday, two men reportedly entered Marquita’s Hair Salon in the afternoon and demanded property from the people inside, reported ABC 7 Chicago.  

The female off-duty deputy pulled out her weapon and shot one of the suspected robbers while the other fled the scene, said Cara Smith, chief policy officer for the sheriff's office.

Wells’s mother could not believe the news, as she assumed her son was at school during the time of the robbery.

"My baby was coming from school. I know he was. I dropped him off this morning. To go to school," said Well’s mother — who did not reveal her name — to reporters.

Additionally, relatives claimed Wells was shot 12 times; however, the medical examiner has not confirmed their allegation.

People who knew Wells found it hard to believe that he would participate in a robbery in his own neighborhood.

"He's very familiar with the neighborhood, and just the idea of him robbing his neighbor when he's, when everyone knows him, is cause for speculation, for pause," said Eric Russell, Tree of Life Justice League of Illinois, told ABC 7.

Police are working to review surveillance footage from the scene to better understand how the events unraveled. 

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