Family Of Slain Chicago Cop Sues Mississippi Pawn Shop That Sold Gun Used In Murder
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 25, 2013 8:20PM
The family of a Chicago Police officer killed while off duty three years ago filed a lawsuit against a Mississippi pawn shop where the gun that was eventually used to kill their son was purchased.
Thomas Wortham IV, a veteran of two tours in the Iraq War, was killed outside his parents’ Chatham home in May 2010 by a group of men who tried to rob him of his motorcycle and shot him in the head. Three men, Paris McGee, Marcus Floyd and Toyious Taylor, were charged in Wortham’s murder. A fourth suspect was killed by Wortham’s father, a retired Chicago police officer.
It was later discovered the .45 caliber handgun used to kill Wortham was purchased by a straw buyer at Ed's Pawn Shop & Salvage yard, a Mississippi gun dealer, for Quawi Gates, an Englewood resident who was convicted of operating a gun running scheme in 2009. Mississippi was identified as one end of a “Dixie Pipeline” in a University of Chicago Crime Lab report last year that showed where Chicago criminals get their guns.
At a Tuesday news conference announcing the lawsuit, Carolyn and Thomas Wortham III contended the owners of the gun shop could have prevented the straw buy that eventually led to their son’s death. Carolyn Wortham said:
"It is really ironic that he was able to survive two tours of duty in Iraq, but could not survive the streets of the south side of Chicago," Carolyn says. "Although I have to live with what has happened to my son for the rest of my life and I have to get up every day thinking about that. I don't ever want any other mother or any other family to have to go through this."
The Worthams have joined the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in the civil lawsuit, which also names the purchaser of the gun, Michael Elliot, and Gates as defendants.