Adam Toledo, 13, raised his hands in the air before being shot by a Chicago police officer on March 29, 2021. – Chicago Police
From our correspondent in the United States,
The pictures are terrible. For 15 days and the death of young Adam Toledo, killed on March 29 by the police, anger has been mounting in Chicago. And after the publication of the video filmed by the police officer’s bodycam (available here, attention, the images are shocking), Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for calm on Thursday, fearing demonstrations and possible excesses, in the midst of Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd and four days after the death of Daunte Wright in Minneapolis.
Adam Toledo, 13, was killed at 2:38 a.m. on the night of March 28-29 during a chase. But contrary to what the authorities had initially indicated, he did not appear to be holding a pistol when he raised his hands in the air. However, a weapon was found nearby. The footage is of poor quality, but it appears the schoolboy got rid of it for a fraction of a second before being shot, which could convince a grand jury that the use of force was justified.
Police arrive after a report of gunfire. Adam Toledo and Ruben Roman, 21, flee down an alley. Eric Stillman, a 34-year-old police officer, chases the youngest of the suspects. “Stop, fuck,” he shouts, then “Show me your hands, fuck”. Adam Toledo turns and throws his hands in the air. The policeman shoots in the same second. The young boy collapses.
Wave of violence in Chicago
” It’s okay ? Where are you hurt? », Asks the officer, lifting the hoodie of Adam, who was hit in the chest, his mouth bleeding. The policeman calls an ambulance and performs cardiac massage, to no avail.
In the rest of the video, we see a gun on the ground, two meters to the right of the teenager’s body. According to the authorities, this is the weapon with which the shots were fired earlier, and powder residue was found on the fingers of the young victim.
“We failed to (protect) Adam. More needs to be done to ensure that children like Adam do not end up in such a face-to-face, ”said Lori Lightfoot. According to ABC News, Ruben Roman, who was arrested, is part of a gang. In the grip of violence for years, Chicago had made progress in recent years: the number of murders fell from 762 in 2016 to 492 in 2019. But it exploded by 50% in 2020 (769), in a phenomenon of global increase in violence affecting most major American cities.