In Chicago, outrage and grief over police shooting of boy
CHICAGO — Viewers reacted with a mix of outrage and grief to newly released bodycam video that showed a Chicago police officer fatally shoot a 13-year-old last month less than a second after the boy appeared to drop a handgun, turn toward the officer and begin raising his hands.
Amid renewed appeals for policing reform, some called for the officer who shot Adam Toledo to be charged or fired. But for others, the footage released Thursday showed how difficult such decisions might be for prosecutors and police higherups, with an officer making a split-second decision after chasing a suspect down a dark alley while responding to a report about gunshots.
The killing of Toledo, who was Latino, by Officer Eric Stillman, who is white, adds to already-heightened tension over policing in Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S., particularly in Black and Latino communities. The videos and other investigative materials were released at the same time as the trial in Minneapolis of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd and the recent police killing of another Black man, Daunte Wright, in one of that city’s suburbs.
In Chicago, a demonstration was planned for Friday to call for “Justice for Adam Toledo,” after small groups of protesters gathered at a police station and marched downtown Thursday night. Some downtown businesses have boarded up their windows in the expectation there could be unrest, though the Thursday protest was peaceful.
“The community is outraged and the family is in pain over what we now know was an unnecessary taking of their loved one’s life,” said Maggie
Rivera, who heads the Illinois chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which called for Stillman to be fired. “... This video clearly shows Adam was not a threat to the officer at that very moment when the trigger was pulled. Communities of color in Chicago are tired of the aggressiveness of some law enforcement officers and you can see it firsthand in this video.”
Whether Stillman is charged is up to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which will get the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s report after the independent board completes its investigation.