The lawyer for Adam Toledo’s family said the 13-year-old did not have a gun in his hand when he was shot dead by a Chicago police officer.
The family was not at a press conference in La Grange Park late Thursday afternoon. The lawyer said the family was in a lot of pain after seeing the camera video of the shooting, which was released to the public by the Civil Liability Office on Thursday.
“It was especially moving, sad and disturbing to see a 13-year-old boy shot in the hands of the officer,” she said. “For those with children who can tell you about the pain the Toledos are experiencing today.”
The body camera video showing the shooting begins with about 1 minute and 45 seconds of the officer driving to the scene in the Little Village area before getting out of his vehicle and running down a street.
‘Police, stop! Stop now, ‘the officer can hear screaming as Adam seems to be standing still at a fence in a parking lot at the end of the alley. Toledo is then seen turning his hands up towards the officer.
The officer can be heard shouting, ‘Shark, show me your little hands, drop it, drop it’, and fire one shot as Adam turns and raises his hands, just under 20 seconds after the officer gets out of his vehicle.
As Adam turns and lifts his hands, he is illuminated by a flashing light, and it appears that the imagery of the body shows that both the boys’ hands are empty.
“The videos speak for themselves,” she said. “Adam had no gun in his hand during his last second of his life.”
A surveillance video from across the parking lot, though recorded at a distance, shows Adam making a slapping motion with his right hand behind the fence before turning to the approaching officer. It was at that time that the officer fired.
“That’s why I now want to be very clear that that child, at the request of the officer, obeyed, dropped the gun, turned around and saw the officer raise his hands and pull the trigger,” he said.
Attorney General Cook County’s attorney said Toledo had a gun in his right hand when he was shot by police over the weekend during a bond trial for 21-year-old Ruben Roman.
A SAO spokesman returned the comments Thursday.
” A lawyer working in this office did not fully inform himself before speaking in court, ” a spokesman for the office said in a statement in response to questions about whether the teenager holding a gun during the shooting or not. . “Such mistakes can not happen and it was addressed to the person concerned. The video speaks for itself.”
Attorney Adeena Weiss Ortiz said on behalf of the Toledo family that the video is difficult for the family to watch.
The surveillance video from Farragut High School offers a different angle of the shooting. The family’s attorney believes Toledo threw the gun behind the fence before turning to the officer.
The state’s civil liability office and the Cook State Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting. The lawyer said that the family now only wants justice for Adam.
“I do not know if the officer had enough time, even if I only know that the officer was trained not to shoot an unharmed person, and not to shoot an unharmed child,” she said.