Hundreds protested in Chicago on Friday against the police shooting of Adam Toledo, a day after the city released a video of a police officer shooting and killing the 13-year-old Latino boy two weeks ago.
Demonstrators chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot!” and “No justice, no peace!” while hoisting signs with messages such as “Justice for Adam Toledo” and “Stop Racist Police Terror!” during a peaceful march.
They observed a moment of silence and expressed solidarity with the boy’s relatives, who had implored protesters to remain peaceful. The rally began in Logan Square Park, about eight kilometres north of where the shooting incident happened.
The nine-minute video, recorded by Eric Stillman’s body camera, showed the 34-year-old officer chasing and shooting Toledo on March 29 at 2:30 am in Little Village, a working-class neighborhood on the city’s West Side with a large population of Mexican Americans.
Toledo appeared to be holding a handgun when he complied with Stillman’s order for him to stop. Toledo then dropped the weapon and raised his hands immediately before Stillman opened fire, the video showed.
The release of the video came as tensions are running high in Chicago and across the country over the issues of policing and racial justice.
This is the second shooting incident of the people of colour in the last couple of months. An officer in a Minneapolis suburb shot and killed a 20-year-old Black youth during a traffic stop, and now faces a second-degree manslaughter charge. On Thursday, the defense rested its case in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, whose death last year ignited a nationwide wave of protests.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement it was closely monitoring events across the country and deployed additional resources throughout the city. The department said it has also canceled days off for police officers in several units and teams.
Businesses throughout the city boarded up windows over the past week in anticipation of possible riots and looting after the release of the video. The city saw widespread looting and rioting in the days and weeks following Floyd’s death last May.
