Note: Due to the nature of the footage, NBC 5 is reviewing all released videos and will publish them soon below.
The city of Chicago on Thursday released a video of the fatal police shooting on 13-year-old Adam Toledo, while Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the boy’s family called on people to “express themselves peacefully” after the ‘incredibly painful’ release.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability – Chicago’s police surveillance agency investigating the shooting – released the videos two days after the footage of Adam’s family was shown and 17 days after the shooting itself, which took place in the early morning hours of March 29. .
Body-camera footage of the shooting was released, along with several third-party surveillance videos and other material related to the investigation.
WARNING: The video below contains graphic content and may be annoying to some viewers. NOTE: NBC 5 does not show the moment Adam Toledo was shot. The sound of the scene will continue to play as the video goes silent.
WARNING: The following video contains graphic content and may be offensive to some viewers. NOTE: NBC 5 does not show the moment Adam Toledo was shot. The sound of the scene will continue to play as the video goes silent.
A lawyer for Adam’s family would discuss the release of the video during a news conference at 3:30 p.m., which can be seen live in the video player below.
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 straight now, ‘the officer could hear screaming as Adam apparently stopped near a fence at the end of the alley and turned his hands up towards the officer.
The officer can be heard shouting, ‘Shark show me your hands, drop it’ while the officer is shooting, just under 20 seconds after getting out of his vehicle. Adam falls to the ground and the officer immediately asks for medical help and says ‘shots fired by the police’ and calls for an ambulance.
The officer walks up to Adam and asks if he is okay and where he was shot.
“Stay with me. Stay with me,” the officer could hear in the video.
Another officer arrives at the scene while the officer who fired the fatal shot starts chest compressions. During the next few minutes, several officers are seen or heard continuing their chest compressions while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
About two-and-a-half minutes after the shooting, the body footage shows another officer shining a flashlight on a gun on the ground behind the fence near where Adam was shot. Given the speed and nature of the videos, it was not immediately clear whether Adam was holding the weapon before the shooting.
“I saw those videos and just let it be said that it’s incredibly hard to watch, especially at the end,” Lightfoot said at a news conference before the release.
“These videos and these moments are never easy to witness, no matter the circumstances,” Lightfoot continued. “And what I learned is that you have to prop up in advance. Make you feel the pain and anxiety and shock of these traumatic events to prevent you from becoming numb while watching.”
Lightfoot said she saw “no evidence whatsoever” that Adam fired any shots at police when she made renewed calls for federal action on gun laws as well as a review of Chicago Police Department policy on footsteps .
Lightfoot and Adam’s family said in a joint statement Thursday morning before the release that the city council and the family’s lawyers had met the previous day and agreed that “all material should be released, including a delayed compilation of events”. until the boy’s death.
“We acknowledge that the release of this video is the first step in the process of healing the family, the community, and our city,” said Lightfoot and the Toledo family’s legal team. “We understand that releasing this video will be incredibly painful and evoke an emotional response for anyone who sees it, and we ask that people express themselves peacefully.”
“The investigation of COPA continues because we want to determine the full facts in this case. Therefore, we call for full cooperation with COPA. We remain committed to working together on the reform,” the statement read. “We ask that you respect the privacy of the Toledo family during this incredibly painful and difficult time.”
By law, the body should not be released in public more than 60 days after a shooting, COPA announced Wednesday that it will release the material Thursday for the sake of transparency.
According to police, the shooting took place on March 29 and said officers responded to a warning of shots fired at 02:37 in the 2300 block of South Sawyer and saw two men in a nearby alley.
Both fled, according to police, who said officers pursued them and one opened fire and shot Adam in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene and a weapon was recovered, officials said.
In a mortgage trial for the 21-year-old man who is facing several charges after authorities said he was with Adam during the shooting incident, a prosecutor at the Cook County Attorneys’ Office described the events in the video and said Adam holds a gun in his hand.
But on Thursday, a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office said that attorney “did not fully inform himself before speaking in court,” and said: errors like this can not happen and it is with the concerned individual addressed. “The spokesperson then points to the video of the shooting, which she says ‘speaks for itself’.
Immediately after the shooting, COPA initially said it would not publish the camera footage of the shooting in public due to the legislation related to matters concerning a juvenile. to see it first.
COPA noted on Wednesday that it is committed to completing a full, thorough and objective investigation into the entire incident, which includes not only the use of lethal force by the officer, but also the actions of other officers involved. has until after the fatal shooting to determine if each officer’s actions comply with the department’s policies and training. ‘
COPA is leading the investigation into the shooting and the officers involved have been placed on administrative duties for 30 days in accordance with the CPD policy.