Newly-released videos by Chicago police show that 13-year-old Adam Toledo had his hands up in the air when he was shot and killed by a police officer.
The city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability posted the videos online Thursday along with other recordings and police reports related to the shooting, after weeks of protest over the boy’s killing that renewed calls for police reform.
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfood called for calm in the city before the video was released. The mayor admitted that watching the footage was “excruciating.” It was clear city officials knew the release of the video could further inflame tensions between activists and law enforcement. Images shared on Twitter showed city buildings being boarded up before the footage was released in the afternoon.
Video of 13-year-old Adam Toledo being shot and killed by a CPD officer expected to be released at 2:30 pm.
Burnham Center, directly SE of City County Building, boarding up. pic.twitter.com/KKElc7ZjBx
— Brad Edwards (@tvbrad) April 15, 2021
The full body-camera video is unsteady, brief, and incredibly graphic. It shows the officer chasing Toledo down an alley on March 29, after police responded to shots fired in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. As one officer chased down 21-year-old Ruben Roman, the other cop went after Toledo. He ordered him to stop, and the teen paused by a fence.
You can hear on the video the officer yelling at Toledo, “Hands. Show me your f***ing hands. Drop it.”
Two seconds later, the boy can be seen turning with his hands raised as the officer fires one shot. Toledo falls to the ground by an opening in the fence. The video shows the officer calling for help and attempting CPR, but Toledo later dies at the scene.
His hands were up. But even if they were down, #AdamToledo should be breathing right now.
But again.https://t.co/ymvz93ERkf
— Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk) April 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/AnthonyNBC12/status/1382797003697094657
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1382794421674987521
I have seen the bodycam video of Chicago PD killing 13-YEAR-OLD Adam Toledo. I will not be posting it here or anywhere else. It’s horrifying, traumatic, and another reminder of the police brutality epidemic we continue to face in America — and the urgent need for police reform!!
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) April 15, 2021
Police discovered a handgun behind the fence not far from where Toledo was shot. But Adeena Weiss Ortiz, a lawyer representing the Toledo family, said the video shows that the 13-year-old was complying with the officer’s orders when he was shot.