Earl Roberts, 47, was charged Saturday afternoon with one count of first-degree murder,
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CHICAGO (STMW) – Bond was denied Sunday for a West Side man charged with murder for allegedly shooting his ex-wife in a Near West Side parking garage, prompting a six-hour lockdown and manhunt.
Earl Roberts, 47, of the 5000 block of West Adams Street, was charged Saturday afternoon with one count of first-degree murder, UIC Associate Chancellor of Public Affairs Mark Rosati said.
Roberts was ordered held without bond at a Sunday hearing.
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Roberts is accused of killing his ex-wife, 48-year-old Angela Bonds-Roberts, in a parking garage at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. Bonds-Robers, of 3408 S. Harlem Ave., was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:40 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Police responded about 11:40 p.m. Friday after a gunman allegedly shot his ex-wife in the Wood Street parking garage in 1800 block of West Taylor Street, officials said. Police initially thought the gunman may have headed back into the hospital, prompting a six-hour barricade situation.
Sources said Bonds-Roberts was walking toward the parking garage after her shift ended when her ex-husband approached and shot her in the head and torso. Roberts, a 15-year employee with knowledge of the medical center and its network of underground tunnels, fled after the shooting, authorities said.
A campus police officer recognized him during a traffic stop near South Damen Avenue and West 14th Street and arrested him at South Hoyne Avenue and West 13th Street after a brief chase, Rosati said. Police recovered a weapon allegedly used in the slaying.
The shooting prompted a “massive response” and police search that did not turn up any indication the shooter ever re-entered the hospital, Rosati said.
“A very large presence of Chicago and UIC police have conducted a very thorough, room by room, top to bottom, roof to basement search of the hospital going through multiple times and have found no sign that anyone was there who shouldn’t be,” Rosati said.
The hospital returned to normal operations about 5 a.m. Friday after numerous sweeps through every room and the tunnels while a police helicopter beamed down a spotlight from above, authorities said.
Class is not in session at the nearby University of Illinois at Chicago campus because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but UIC officials kept students and community members updated on the situation through a series of text messages, e-mails and online alerts.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
