NAMES IN THE NEWS : Mr. T’s Brother Shoots Robber

An off-duty police officer, the brother and former bodyguard of television star Mr. T, shot and wounded a man who tried to rob him at a South Side currency exchange, authorities said.

The officer, Gustave J. Tero, a patrolman assigned to the Police Training Academy, was waiting to cash his paycheck Tuesday when two men tried to rob him, police said. Tero’s brother, Lawrence (Mr. T) Tero, played a tough law enforcer with a trademark shaved head in television’s “The A Team.”

Tero struggled with the two robbers and chased one of them into a nearby alley, Cmdr. Toby Burton said. Tero struggled with the man again and shot him in the legs, Burton said.

The second robber and a getaway driver fled and are still at large, Burton said. The wounded man was hospitalized in fair condition. The police department’s Office of Professional Standards is investigating the shooting.

Gustave Tero had once served as a bodyguard for Lawrence but was fired after a year. He sued his brother in 1984 to recoup $72,000 in damages and salary he claimed he lost for taking a year off from the department.