Chicago — A Chicago man has been sentenced to 46 years in prison for shooting a Magnificent Mile restaurant manager and tying up several of its employees during a robbery five years ago.
Marcus Norwood, 45, is scheduled to be paroled in May 2038 after serving half his sentence.
Norwood had recently been fired from Lawry’s The Prime Rib, 100 East Ontario, for fighting with another employee when he entered the restaurant at closing time on October 29, 2017. He restrained three employees in a locker room with duct tape and zip ties and struck two of them in the head, likely with a hammer, prosecutors said.
Moments after he took the three victims’ valuables at gunpoint, the restaurant’s manager entered the locker room and recognized Norwood.
“Marcus, what are you doing?” the manager asked, according to prosecutors.
Norwood replied, “Get on your knees, motherf*cker,” and shot the manager in the arm. His gun jammed when he tried to fire it again.
As the crime unfolded, another employee who was in a restroom stall heard what was going on and texted people for help.
Chicago police arrested Norwood at the Chicago/State Red Line station. Officers allegedly found a bag containing a gun, duct tape, zip ties, and other items in a trash can near the El station.
According to court records, he pleaded guilty on December 7 to three counts of armed robbery with a firearm and one count of kidnapping. Judge Lauren Edidin sentenced him to 43 years for each robbery count, to be served concurrently. His three-year sentence for kidnapping runs consecutively, bringing his effective sentence to 46 years.
In their plea agreement with Norwood, prosecutors agreed to drop 40 other felony charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery, and kidnapping.
He had a significant violent crime background before the Lawry’s robbery. In 2011, he received a 54-month sentence for aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle. He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm that same year. He received a 12-year sentence for armed robbery in 1998 and three years for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm the same year.
Lawry’s closed permanently on December 31, 2020, after 46 years of operation.
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