Woman attacked by accused killer of CPD officer shares story of beating at Family Dollar store
By Jermont Terry
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ALBANY PARK, Illinois (WBBM) — The woman who was pistol-whipped during an armed robbery at a Family Dollar store in Albany Park last weekend said she was horrified to learn one of the two men who were arrested was also accused of later shooting two Chicago police officers, killing one of them.
Maria Velezquez was still badly bruised nearly one week after the attack, but despite her physical scars, she was speaking out, because she wants people to hear what she endured while simply working at her job; a job she’s terrified of returning to now.
Velezquez was working at the Family Dollar store at the corner of Lawrence and Sawyer avenues on April 25, when two men robbed the store. One of them hit her three times in the face with a gun, breaking her nose.
Her bruises are undeniable.
“My physical is not good; and me and the health, it’s too much pain,” she said.
The pain is much deeper than the scars. Velezquez said, right after opening the store, two men walked in, one of them armed with a gun, and demanded money from the safe and registers.
When she told them she didn’t have keys for the safe, one of the men immediately hit her in the face with a gun.
The man accused of beating her – 26-year-old Alphanso Talley – is the same man police said was spotted on scooters with his accomplice soon after the attack and robbery.
Talley was arrested and claimed to have ingested drugs, so police took him to Swedish Hospital. While there, investigators said when police removed his handcuffs for a medical scan, Talley pulled out a concealed gun, and shot and killed Officer John Bartholomew, and critically wounded his partner.
“He no have heart … for police, for mine, because I have family,” Velezquez said.
As Velezquez recovers from her own injuries, she was horrified to learn Talley was on electronic monitoring at the time of the robbery and his alleged accomplice, Jeron Tate, was on parole following an earlier conviction for multiple robberies when he was a juvenile.
“It’s crazy. I’m sorry, but it’s crazy,” Velezquez said.
She said she doesn’t buy Talley’s family’s defense that he has mental health issues. Yet she’s in disbelief a judge refused to keep Talley behind bars despite his history of repeatedly violating electronic monitoring.
“If they didn’t let him out or let him free, the cops wouldn’t be in that situation, and neither would I,” she said through a Spanish interpreter
For 13, years the single mother of three worked at Family Dollar to care for her children, but now she’ll be out at least two months as she recovers. Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills until she feels safe going back to work.
Velezquez said she’s scared to leave the house, reflecting on what happened to the officers, and thankful she survived her attack. She said, every time she closes her eyes, she sees her two attackers.
Despite the robbers wearing face coverings, she said she was able to identify Talley from his large size. It’s that same size investigators believe helped him hide the weapon he used to shoot Bartholomew and his partner.
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