Thousands turned out in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood Friday night to demand change and accountability one day after the release of body camera video showing a police officer fatally shoot 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
The evening of demonstrations began at Logan Square’s Illinois Centennial Monument where protesters gathered at a rally focused on justice for Adam and others fatally shot by Chicago police.
“Why are we standing here today when that baby had his hands up, telling a cop not to shoot?” one speaker said. “…Why do they keep killing us then asking us to stay calm?”
Just before sunset, the crowd of what appeared to be hundreds of demonstrators grew into thousands who marched through the Northwest Side community, resulting in a number of street closures.
Adam’s death sparked calls for a release of body camera footage and other materials, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Chicago’s police oversight agency, responded to those calls by releasing the information on Thursday.
Body camera footage shows Adam running from a Chicago police officer down a Little Village alley on March 29. Adam starts to turn toward the officer, and is in the process of putting his hands up when the officer fires his weapon once, striking the teen in the chest.
It did not appear in video that Adam was holding a weapon when he was shot. A weapon was discovered behind a fence shortly after he was shot, according to the footage released by COPA.
Following the video’s release, a number of protesters expressed outrage in demonstrations across the city both Thursday and Friday, with many calling for charges to be filed against the officer who shot and killed the teen.
Sandra Nevarez, whose son Anthony Nevarez was fatally shot by Chicago police in Oct. 2020, said there’s no reason why a mother should be burying her kids.
“Do not shoot these kids,” she said. “Let them live… We need justice, and we need it now.”
A relative of Anthony Alvarez, who was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in Portage Park just days after Adam’s death, demanded answers in her relative’s case.
“…We appreciate the Toledo family to help us not give up,” she said. “Give us strength, justice for all of these souls we lost.”
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/3tvaKZY
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