A new drama comes to rekindle the debate on the methods of the American police force and the racist past of the country. Chicago authorities released a video of a police officer shooting a 13-year-old minor on Thursday, April 15. On video from the officer’s pedestrian camera, the officer can be seen chasing Adam Toledo, ordering him to stop and show him his hands. Then he shoots her the moment the teenager has stopped and has just raised his hands in the air. The teenager was shot dead on March 29 at around 2:30 a.m.
At a press conference Thursday before the footage was released, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called them“Unsustainable”, calling on residents to calm down at a time when tensions around police violence are already high in the country.
“Whether Adam was an altar boy or was involved in some untoward activity, the fact is that he was walking down the street and was shot dead, unarmed.” at the time he was killed, denounced to the press the lawyer of the Toledo family, Adeena Weiss-Ortiz.
“A new reminder of the epidemic of police violence”
Police were called after reports of gunfire and chased the teenager and a 21-year-old man who was with him, Ruben Roman, on foot. The latter was quickly arrested; a police officer continued to pursue Adam Toledo before shooting him.
An assistant district attorney for the county where Chicago is located reported that Adam Toledo was carrying a gun when he was shot. But on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor told local broadcaster WGN that the prosecutor had failed. “Not fully informed before speaking at a hearing”. In addition, no weapon is visible in his hands on the video.
The pictures are “Horrible, traumatic, and [constituent] yet another reminder of the epidemic of police violence we continue to experience in America, and the urgent need for police reform! “, tweeted Ben Crump, lawyer for the family of George Floyd.
In the midst of the trial of the white police officer accused of the death of black forty-something George Floyd in May 2020, a young African-American man, Daunte Wright, was killed in Minneapolis by a police officer who claims to have confused his service weapon and his Taser.