As news spread that Lashonda Hearts was the armored truck guard fatally shot Tuesday in Chicago’s West Chatham neighborhood, a friend posted on Facebook that Hearts’ relatively new position with GardaWorld was her “dream job.”
Not long ago Hearts had confided as much in a friend, who then shared Hearts’ written message on her social media profile page: “Hard work pays off as well as faithfulness. I have a new job with great pay and benefits plus a $5,000 … sign-on bonus.”
Hearts, an avid churchgoer, closed the message about her new job by saying: “I will be driving and delivering the money for Garda. Ain’t God good?”
Her brother, Sean Hearts, a pastor, said his sister had started the armored truck security job with GardaWorld, a Canadian cash and security company, within the past two months.
Hearts was one of two Garda employees shot Monday morning as they approached a Bank of America location, 250 W. 83rd St., according to Chicago police and the FBI, which was the lead investigating agency. Yet few new details had emerged in the day after the brazen daylight attack involving between two and four masked gunmen, dressed in all black.
A spokeswoman for the FBI would not answer questions Tuesday. A Garda representative, after providing a statement, declined to answer questions.
“(Monday) morning, a GardaWorld crew was the target of violent and foiled robbery attempt while servicing a client ATM location on the South Side of Chicago,” the statement read. “Two of our employees were critically injured and taken to (a) hospital. One of our employees succumbed to their injuries while the other remains in (the) hospital. A third employee was on-site but did not (suffer) any serious injuries.”
Hearts was shot six times, and a 46-year-old guard was shot twice in the stomach. Both were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, where Hearts’ partner remains in critical condition.
Neither he nor the third employee had been identified Tuesday.
Hearts is survived by a large family left reeling after her loss. They posted memorials and condolences on her Facebook page.
One friend said Hearts sang at her father’s funeral. Another proudly called her friend “the nicest person ever.” Posts to Hearts’ page, full of shock, sadness and sentimentality, painted a picture of a woman who loved jazz, who was vaccinated and who implored her friends to forgo birthday presents for her one year and instead asked them to donate to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“She was a great friend, neighbor and was on a journey moving forward to provide for her family,” another friend posted.
The statement from GardaWorld, which has approximately 100,000 employees, said the Montreal-based firm is “working closely with the relevant authorities in their ongoing investigation and ... will support the authorities in any way we can to help apprehend the perpetrators of this crime.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of all our team members involved in this violent and cowardly attack. We are deploying the necessary resources to support our people and their families during this extremely difficult time,” it said.
Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at fbi.gov/tips.
The Associated Press contributed.
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