A security guard who worked at high-profile events in Chicago shot and killed an unarmed man on the Red Line after stealing the victim’s can of Pepsi, authorities said Friday.
Issac Anderson, 26, was held without bail by Judge Charles Beach on charges of first-degree murder and murder during the commission of a forcible felony.
Prosecutors said that high-quality CTA surveillance footage caught the whole thing, starting when Anderson used his own Ventra card to enter the State-Lake station on the morning of October 15.
Anderson boarded a southbound train, and the 60-year-old male victim boarded the same train car a few minutes later.
After about 30 or 40 minutes, Anderson got up from his seat and sat down next to the victim. They talked for a few minutes before Anderson grabbed the man’s backpack and looked inside, prosecutors said. Video showed him taking a Pepsi from inside the backpack and then tossing the bag onto the seat next to the victim.
Prosecutors claim Anderson returned to his original seat, sipped the man’s Pepsi, then returned to the man and threw the rest of the soda on him.
When the victim stood up, unarmed and with both hands visible, Anderson pulled a revolver from his jacket pocket and shot him five times, prosecutors said. Anderson fled from the 87th Street station.
Chicago police officers, working from an initial description of the shooter, found Anderson a short time later as he rode a CTA bus. They interviewed him, collected his information, and searched him for weapons. But he did not have a gun, and police let him go, prosecutors said.
Police arrested Anderson outside the 87th Street Red Line station this week. Prosecutors said investigators found records that showed Anderson bought three guns, including a revolver, in November 2021. Cops discovered a Facebook photo of Anderson posing with a revolver, as well as messages in which Anderson discussed shooting someone, according to prosecutors.
A crime lab is running tests on the Pepsi can, which police found on the train.
Anderson has no criminal history. According to his defense attorney, he has been working as a security guard for almost a year, performing security duties at major events such as Lollapalooza.
According to city records, there have been 34 murders on the CTA since 2001. Nine of them, that’s 26%, occurred this year.
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