Warrant issued in murder of railroad security guard in Harvey

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A first-degree murder warrant has been issued in the murder of a Canadian National Railroad security guard Saturday evening in south suburban Harvey.

Police obtained an arrest warrant Wednesday for 24-year-old Rashad Williams of East Hazel Crest, according to Harvey city spokesman Sean Howard. He was not in custody as of Thursday morning.

About 4 p.m., a woman called police to report a man stealing her car, Howard said. The woman was able to get in another car and followed the man while speaking with police. After hearing police sirens and realizing he was being followed, Williams crashed the stolen car near 159th Street and Park.

Williams then ran towards the viaduct on the nearby railroad where he saw the Canadian National Railroad security guard working at an intermodal facility in a vehicle, said Howard and CN spokesman Patrick Waldron.

The guard, 38-year-old Tyrone Hardin, was found shot in the abdomen and was taken to South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, where he was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m., according to Howard and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Williams stole Hardin’s vehicle, but then abandoned it in the 100 block 171st Street in East Hazel Crest, according to Howard.

Hardin, a Merrillville, Indiana, resident was working a second job as a security guard to earn enough money to provide a nice Christmas for his family.

“He assured me it wasn’t dangerous,” his wife, Gwinette Oliver, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He said the worst thing is ‘I might get chewed up by one of the coyotes that come up there’.”

Hardin had a 5-year-old son with the 40-year-old Oliver, and was stepfather to her four other children. He also had a son from a previous marriage.