Chicago cops fail residents, grieving mother of Saturday shooting victim says today

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Grieving relatives and friends of two people shot and killed by Chicago police said today that the city's law enforcement officers had failed its residents.

Quintonio LeGrier, 19, was killed early Saturday by police responding to a domestic disturbance, along with downstairs neighbor Bettie Jones, 55, police said.

Jones was hit accidentally by the gunfire, the police said. Both victims were black.

Jacqueline Walker, a friend of Jones, asked why police "shoot first and ask questions later." Police should use stun guns or other nonlethal methods instead, Walker said at a news conference outside the West Side residence where the victims lived.

Officers who responded to a 911 call "were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon," the Chicago Police Department said in a statement Saturday.

"The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed," according to the statement, which extended "deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends."

Jones, a mother of five who had hosted family for Christmas, and LeGrier, a college student home for holiday break, were pronounced dead at hospitals, according to relatives and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, told reporters that the Chicago Police Department has failed her and so many others. She said she has seen other families who lost their loved ones to police shootings, and now it has happened to her.

The shootings came amid ongoing scrutiny of police across the country after a series of deaths of African-Americans at the hands of officers gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Speakers at the news conference said Mayor Rahm Emanuel needs to improve the situation with police, but others who spoke called for him to resign.

Police did not immediately disclose the race of the officer, saying only that the officers involved will be placed on administrative duties for 30 days while "training and fitness for duty requirements can be conducted." It isn't clear how many officers responded, how many used their firearms and how many times both LeGrier and Jones were struck.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the officers' role in the shooting is being investigated by the city's Independent Police Review Authority, the city's main police oversight agency. He also said police can't comment.

IPRA spokesman Larry Merritt also declined comment. He said Saturday it was "very early on in the investigation" and couldn't release further details.

The Chicago Police Department also is under a federal civil rights investigation that will look into patterns of racial disparity in the use of force, how the department disciplines officers and handles misconduct accusations.

That investigation was launched after last month's release of police dashcam video showing white officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014. The video's release has led to protests, the forced resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and calls from residents for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down. It is not clear whether there are any video recordings of Saturday's shootings.

A prayer vigil for Jones was scheduled for later Sunday.