TRUE CRIMEBodycam Footage Released Of Chicago Officer Shooting And Killing 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo
Chicago police have released the bodycam footage of an officer shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo dead in an alley last month.
In the clips, which can be viewed on Front Page Detectives, Toledo stopped and raised his hands once police arrived shouting, "Police! Stop! Stop right f**king now! Hands! Hands! Show me your f**king hands!"
The footage shows the officer shouting at the teen to "Drop it," before he shot the teen in the chest on March 29 in the Little Village neighborhood on the west side. While the boy did not appear to be holding a weapon at that moment, the police video shows what looked to be a handgun on the ground near where he was hit.
CCTV footage seems to show Toledo throw something through a gap in the fence as he is approached by an officer.
An ambulance was called by the officer as he urged the teen to "stay awake" before other officers arrive and perform CPR.
Toledo was with 21-year-old Ruben Roman, who had fired a gun at a passing car, which drew cops to the area, according to prosecutors. Roman appeared in court on Saturday, April 10, and was reportedly charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm and child endangerment.
The bodycam footage, CCTV footage, arrest reports and audio recordings that initially alerted police were released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Thursday, April 15.
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Small protests were held on the same evening in Chicago. The footage follows the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright earlier this week in Minneapolis.
"At the time Adam was shot, he did not have a gun. OK?" Toledo's family attorney, Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, said at a press conference, according to CNN. "In that slo-mo version (of one of the videos), whatever he had in his, in his hand, whether it was a gun or something else, there was something in his hand, he approaches the fence, he lets it go, he turns around, and he's shot."
"It could be a gun. I'm not going to deny that, that it could be a gun, but I can't tell you with 100% certainty, until I have that video forensically analyzed and enhanced," the attorney continued. "But it is not relevant, because he tossed the gun. If he had a gun, he tossed it."
Timothy Grace, a lawyer representing the officer who has been identified as Eric Stillman, said the case was tragic but Stillman was "left with no other option" in the situation. "The juvenile had a handgun in his right hand, given verbal direction, told to drop and stop and to adhere to the police officer's valid, lawful orders and the juvenile begins to turn," Grace said. "At that point (the officer) has no cover, no concealment...
"He feels horrible about the outcome. He feels horrible he had to use deadly force. No police officer wants to use deadly force in the line of duty. He was well within his justification of using deadly force, he just feels horrible," Grace added.
A GoFundMe was set up to raise funds to help Toledo's family to lay him to rest, and it has raised $52,040.
"Adam had many dreams that he will never get to live out. Ironically one of his dreams was to become a police officer. It weighs heavy on our hearts to be planning our last goodbyes instead of watching him grow up and live out those dreams," the fundraiser read.
