Surely the robber had no idea who his intended target was.
Nathan Kidd, 20, was in a West Side hospital Tuesday night, recovering from gunshot wounds to both thighs, after he and at least one other man allegedly tried to rob Gustave Tero-a Chicago police officer and brother of Mr. T.
Officer Tero, a physical training instructor at the Chicago Police Training Academy and the older brother of television tough guy Lawrence ”Mr. T” Tero, was buying a money order at a currency exchange at 432 E. 47th St. when he was accosted by a group of men, according to Sgt. Jack Ridges of the Wentworth Area.
”Tero`s wallet was lying up there on the counter beside him when they just came in and snatched it,” Ridges said. ”He wrestled them for it, but they managed to take it and run.”
But Tero, who was off-duty at the time, ran after the assailants in a zig-zag chase that ended in an alley near the back of the currency exchange, Ridges said.
Kidd was cornered in the alley while the other men got away.
”Tero ordered him to stop, but he wouldn`t,” Ridges said. ”That`s when the shots were fired, and Tero arrested (Kidd).”
Ridges said police had not found any weapons at the scene of the shooting and were not sure whether Kidd was carrying a gun.
Detectives and officials from the police Office of Professional Standards were interviewing people who were in the currency exchange when the incident happened, just after 7 p.m.
Kidd, of 7435 S. Champlain Ave., was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical Center, where he was in stable condition, according to a spokesman for the hospital.
As of early Wednesday, charges were pending against Kidd and another man who had been arrested in the case, police said.
”There might have been a driver of a getaway car, but we`re not sure yet,” Ridges said.
”A lot of crime goes on in that area (near the currency exchange),” he said. ”Tero was just there in plain clothes, and I`m sure they didn`t know who he was.”
Tero and his famous brother, known best for his role on the television action drama ”The A-Team” and for his Mohawk haircut, mounds of gold jewelry and macho man stance, have been at odds since Tero quit the police force to be Mr. T.`s bodyguard but later was fired by his brother in 1984.
Tero, who rejoined the police force, sued his brother for $74,000 in salary and seniority he said he had lost as a result of leaving the Police Department.
