City officials move to fire police officer in fatal 2018 shooting
By Jeremy Gorner and Alice Yin
A Chicago police officer now faces firing for an on-duty fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man three years ago in the South Side’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
Officer Sheldon Thrasher is accused of violating several Police Department rules when he fatally shot Maurice Granton Jr. as he tried to scale a fence, according to paperwork from the Chicago Police Board, the city’s police disciplinary panel.
Police Superintendent David Brown moved to fire Thrasher on Friday, three years and two months since the June 6, 2018, shooting. Now, in the coming months, the seven-member Police Board will hear evidence against Thrasher and decide whether he should be dismissed as a Chicago cop.
Thrasher could not be reached for comment. In a Saturday statement, the attorney representing Granton’s family in an ongoing lawsuit against Thrasher and the city agreed with Brown’s recommendations.
“The legal team representing the estate of Maurice Granton, Jr. has long believed that Officer Thrasher should have his badge taken away for this completely unnecessary shooting death,” attorney Antonio Romanucci said. “The officer’s decision making that evening had tragic consequences and we will press for justice in the upcoming civil case.”
Thrasher faces a host of disciplinary charges ranging from bringing discredit to the Police Department and failing to promote its goals, to incompetency and unnecessary display or use of a weapon, city officials said.
They contend that Granton did not pose a threat to Thrasher when he shot him, and the officer failed to turn on his body camera in a timely manner in order to adequately record his interaction with the 24-year-old.
Thrasher is also accused of having an “unjustified verbal interaction” with people who gathered around the crime scene right after the shooting when he told at least one onlooker, “You see your homie right there? You see your homie shot? You see your homie? You see your homie shot? Get back. Get back.”
Brown’s move to fire Thrasher means the city’s Law Department has filed disciplinary charges against him — despite that same agency’s involvement in defending him in the lawsuit filed by Granton’s family.
But the disciplinary charges must be adjudicated through the Police Board, which will hold status hearings before an evidentiary hearing — a quasi-trial of sorts — and will decide whether Thrasher would be fired. That likely won’t take place for several months.
The fatal police shooting three years ago has drawn outcry from Granton’s relatives, who in addition to condemning the use of force have questioned why city officials have moved slowly to give them answers.
In late 2020, the civilian oversight agency that investigates possible misconduct by Chicago police finished its investigation into Granton’s death, giving the Police Department 60 days to respond, with a possible 30-day extension. But it was not until Friday that Brown moved to fire Thrasher.
On June 6, 2018, Wentworth District tactical officers were conducting a narcotics investigation when they were directed to the 300 block of East 47th Street in the South Side’s Bronzeville neighborhood, Chicago police have said.
Surveillance footage gathered by investigators showed the 24-year-old Granton Jr. and others milling around under the CTA Green Line before a police car pulled up and the men scattered.
The body camera from one officer captured him saying, “Come here, man,” and then chasing Granton, who jumped a wooden fence, leaving the view of that officer’s body camera.
But his camera captured the sound of a single gunshot, then a pause, followed by three more shots in quick succession.
Different body camera footage showing Granton lying wounded did not include audio at the time of the shooting.
That video showed Granton running across a vacant lot and darting onto a wrought-iron fence with one leg raised. As both hands reached for the top of the fence, an officer can be seen raising his gun. The footage then showed Granton immediately fall from the fence, stumble to his left a few feet and then drop to the ground, writhing in pain.
Granton was shot in the back, according to the Cook
County medical examiner’s office.
The civil lawsuit filed after the shooting alleged that Thrasher fired at least three times, striking the 24-yearold at least once in the back and severing his spinal cord. The lawsuit also alleged that as a crowd emerged at the scene, Thrasher, who is Black, could be heard “mocking” Granton, also Black.
At the time of the shooting, the Police Department released a statement saying Granton had “produced a weapon” before an “armed encounter” with police took place. It also released limited video footage it said showed Granton holding a gun shortly before the shooting. The department also tweeted out a photo of a 9 mm handgun it said was recovered from the shooting scene.