On October 16th, 2007, there was a card game happening on Kishwaukee street.
Two armed robbers ran in on the game demanding money.
Rockford Police officers Jeffrey Oberts and Cheryl Buntjer responded to the armed robbery call.
80-year-old Vaughn “Curly” Fitzgerald, the owner of the building, was allegedly running the game.
Curly chased after one of the robbers with a rifle in hand as they ran from the game into the parking lot as Oberts and Buntjer were arriving.
Curly shot and killed the robber as the two cops were exiting their squad car. They both aimed, and shot Curly killing him.
This was the fourth Rockford police shooting in 2007 and 14th deadly force incident in the 2000’s.