Video released in police shooting of 13-year-old

Video: Chicago cop fires in less than a second

Adam Toledo appears to show his hands in the air less than a second before a Chicago officer fired.

CHICAGO – The mayor appealed for calm Thursday as the city released body camera videos of last month’s fatal shooting of Adam Toledo, 13, by a Chicago police officer, footage that shows the teen’s hands in the air as he was shot.

On the officer’s bodycam video, he pulls up in a car, gets out, pushes past another man and runs down an alley shouting “stop” toward Adam. Adam runs away from the officer, then slows down and pauses near a fence.

Adam tossed what appeared to be a gun behind the fence, according to surveillance video shot from across a parking lot.

The officer ordered Adam to show his hands, according to his bodycam video, then told him to “stop it” or “drop it.” Adam turned toward the officer and put his hands up. In the footage, he does not appear to have a gun in either hand. The officer fired his weapon less than a second after Adam turned around to face him with his hands raised.

Adam clutched his chest and fell to the ground, and the officer got on his radio and said, “Get an ambulance here now.”

“I need a medical kit … hurry up,” the officer shouted to others on the scene, Adam beneath him, his eyes open and bleeding from the mouth and chest. “Stay with me,” the officer said. About a minute after firing, the officer told other officers he couldn’t feel a heartbeat and began chest compressions.

After attempting compressions, the officer stood up and paced. At least half a dozen other officers were on the scene. As he walked to the fence where Adam had been standing, the officer shined a light on what looks on the video like a gun leaning against the fence.

According to a response report, Adam was armed with a semiautomatic pistol that was “displayed, not used.” The officer listed “defense of self” as a reason for shooting. A separate, original case incident report listed the victim as being 18-25 years old.

The city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates cases of potential police misconduct, released 17 bodycam videos, four third-party videos, a transmission from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, two audio recordings of 911 calls, six ShotSpotter recordings, as well as response and arrest reports.

“They are incredibly difficult to watch, particularly at the end,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a news conference Thursday before the videos were released.

“No one should have a video broadcast widely of their child’s last moments, much less be placed in the terrible situation of losing their child in the first place,” she said. “Simply put, we failed Adam, and we cannot afford to fail one more young person in our city.”

Lightfoot urged residents to “proceed with deep empathy and calm and, most importantly, peace.” She asked Chicagoans to “reserve judgment” and “wait until we hear all the facts.”

Karina Ayala-Bermejo of Instituto del Progreso Latino, a nonprofit group based in Adam’s neighborhood, called on Chicagoans to “embrace our children.”

“I call for peace. I call for justice, but I also call for nonviolence,” she said.

Ricardo Estrada of Metropolitan Family Services, who said he was raised five blocks from where Adam was killed, called on residents to give the family time to mourn. “Absolutely, we need to call for justice,” he said. “But in our community, we have a nine-days novena where we need to grieve. We need to allow this family to grieve.”

Demonstrations in Chicago began last week as protesters demanded police accountability.