The man described as an aggressive panhandler who was shot and killed by police after he fired on them had long suffered from mental illness, according to his brother.
"I knew eventually it was going to come to an end," said Sidney Hardaman, an older brother of 56-year-old Reginald Hardaman, who was identified this morning by the Cook County medical examiner's office.
"I know my brother, he was going through changes ... He was not wrapped tight at all, man," Sidney Hardaman said.
"He been sick for a long time, he been taking all kinds of medication, he been in and out the nut house."
Reginald Hardaman was picked up for panhandling Wednesday afternoon near Chicago Avenue and Wells Street in the River North neighborhood.
After he was handcuffed and put in the back seat of an unmarked Chicago police car, he pulled out a gun and opened fire, shooting through the front seat and wounding one of the officers in the shoulder, officials said.
The officers got out of the car as it rolled down the street and fired into the back seat, killing Hardaman. The rear window and the driver's side rear window of the Crown Victoria police car were shot out.
Phil Lee said he was working in an office building across the street when he heard shots. He ran to a window and saw the police car slowly rolling north on Wells Street.
Lee said he saw an officer walking behind the car and firing through the back window. The officer then walked around to the driver's side and opened the rear door and pulled a man out of the car and onto the ground, Lee said.
"Initially I thought it was one dude shooting another dude in a car," he said. "I didn't know it was a cop car."
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis, speaking outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said the officer who was shot was "OK." He said that officer is 44 years old and a 16-year veteran. His partner, whose hand was cut from flying glass, is 60 years old and a 37-year veteran.
Court records showed Hardaman had been arrested nearly a dozen times since 1990, mostly for petty offenses. His only felony conviction came in 1992 on an attempted robbery charge for which he received a 3-year prison sentence.
Sidney Hardaman said he hadn't seen his brother since Mother's Day, when family members called police to the family home on South Lowe Avenue in the West Pullman neighborhood because Reginald was violent and mistreating their mother.
Police came and escorted her out of the house, and she moved to Georgia with her daughter, Sidney said. Their mother died in August, but Reginald continued to live in the house, he added.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
