Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx speaks during a presser Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Tuesday she will not file criminal charges against Chicago Police officers in the shooting deaths of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez last year.
Foxx made the announcement almost a year after the officers shot and killed Toledo and Alvarez in separate incidents in March.
“This is a somber announcement. There are no winners in this situation,” Foxx said.
While Foxx said her office’s investigation and a review by an outside agency found no evidence to support criminal charges, she said officers in both cases had “created the conditions” that led to the shootings.
Both deaths sparked outrage over police use-of-force, with calls for a moratorium on police foot pursuits. It also prompted protests as hundreds of people marched in Logan Square. Last month, the Chicago Police Department unveiled an updated foot pursuit policy designed to prevent similar police shootings in the future.
This video police body cam image released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) on April 15, 2021, shows a frame grab of 13 year-old Adam Toledo after he was shot by police in Chicago, Illinois on March 29, 2021.
Sun-Times files
Adam Toledo shooting
In the shooting of the 13-year-old, “based on the facts, the evidence and the law, we found that there’s no evidence to prove that Officer [Eric] Stillman acted with criminal intent,” Foxx said.
Stillman was wearing a body camera that shows him chasing the teen down an alley in Little Village on March 29. The officer orders him to stop and show his hands.
Video shows Adam standing sideways in a large gap in a wooden fence with what looks like a gun in one of his hands behind his back. The officer is on the other side of the alley. He yells, “Drop it!”
In less than a second, Adam drops the gun and raises his hands as the officer fires. Adam crumples to the ground, and the officer calls for an ambulance and performs CPR.
Foxx said that while the officer may have violated CPD’s chase policy, the investigation by the state’s attorney’s office found that criminal charges were not warranted.
Anthony Alvarez shooting
Foxx said charges would also not be filed in the March 31 shooting of Alvarez on the Northwest Side. She said her office considered if it should file first- or second-degree murder charges against the officer, but that Officer Evan Solano had reasonably believed he was in danger at the time of the shooting.
Foxx said the officers initiated the chase that led to the fatal shooting because of a traffic infraction the night before.
“The officers were aware of Mr. Alvarez’s home address and could have sought to contact him there,” Foxx said. “We got into this situation because of the actions of the officers initially. ... It was the escalation of events that gets us to our final conclusion.”
Solano shot Alvarez several times from behind in the 5200 block of West Eddy Street. In footage captured by Solano’s body camera, a gun can be seen in Alvarez’s right hand but the video never shows Alvarez pointing the weapon toward officers.
As he ran from the officers, he slipped and fell and was getting up as Solano came upon him, Foxx said. To the officer, it looked like Alvarez was crouching and waiting to ambush the officer, she said.
Tania Dimitrova, an attorney for the Alvarez family, said they are “saddened and disappointed in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s decision not to bring forth criminal charges.
“Family members are committed in their efforts to bring justice for Anthony, which includes holding the Chicago Police officers involved in the shooting accountable for their actions,” Dimitrova said in a statement. “We hope that Kim Foxx and her office continues their investigation into the reckless and inexcusable conduct of Officer Evan Solano.”
In this image taken from Chicago Police body cam video from early Wednesday, March 31, 2021, a Chicago police officer holds out his weapon during a foot chase with Anthony Alvarez in Chicago. Alvarez was fatally shot by police during the incident.
Sun-Times files
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability had released a series of videos from police-worn body cameras, as well as cameras from a nearby home.
Alvarez was approached by the officers at a gas station the day after the officers had tried to arrest Alvarez for a traffic stop. The encounter escalated to a foot pursuit that began in the 3500 block of North Laramie Avenue.
Video shows Solano yelling, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” before firing five shots from close range at Alvarez.
Video shows Alvarez with a gun in his right hand, but the gun drops from his hand as he falls to the pavement.
In April of 2021, COPA recommended Solano be relieved of police powers during the investigation of the Alvarez shooting — a rare move that would mean the officer would be placed on paid desk duty after a standard 30-day leave.
COPA concluded its investigation at the end of January and Police Supt. David Brown was expected to come to a decision on the officer’s status this month.
Foxx said she had spoken recently to Alvarez’s family, and that his family was “heartbroken” that no charges would be filed against the officer.
“They didn’t think the criminal court system would hold the officer accountable,” Foxx said. “They had many, many questions. They seemed resigned to the decision my office made.”
Solano was also the subject of an internal police probe after a viral video recorded last May showed him exiting a red Ford Mustang and confronting a man with his gun in Logan Square — an incident the Alvarez family said she be more closely scrutinized.
Solano began working as a probationary police officer with the department in 2015, and since his start has had nearly a dozen investigations launched into his actions from CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs and COPA, according to his personnel records obtained by the Sun-Times.
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