A Chicago police officer shot and killed a man on the South Side of Chicago yesterday evening. Angry residents gathered to protest the fatal shooting and a clash erupted between the protesters and the police. According to Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Fred Waller, officers approached a man while on patrol “who they thought might be armed.”
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted about the incident.
UPDATE: Officers assigned to a foot assignment observe a man exhibiting characteristics of an armed person. Officers go to question him when a confrontation ensues and he is shot. The man was fatally wounded. A weapon recovered on scene. pic.twitter.com/8CJXu8m5pa
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) July 15, 2018
According to reports, protesters gathered to question the shooting and when they were approached by police to move their line back, punches were thrown along with bottles and rocks. Protesters were also rushed into a parking lot where one man was being hit with a baton and pulled to the ground.
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa tweeted about the tense exchange.
The situation just severely escalated when Chicago Police officers moved their line forward. Officers hit multiple protestors with batons, and protesters punched officers back. I haven't seen a police shooting scene this tense since Laquon McDonald. pic.twitter.com/LfEnMP0k85
— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) July 15, 2018
All of this happened after a march led by Father Michael Pfleger shut down an expressway in Chicago last week. Pfleger and Police Chief Eddie Johnson marched arm-in-arm and the hope was to better community relations between the community and CPD, increase economic opportunity and education, and to stop the killing.
Chicago residents are no stranger to challenging police when it comes to the murder of a Black man. In 2015, protesters gathered to address the killing of an unarmed Laquan McDonald. He was shot 16 times by Jason Van Dyke as he was walking away from police officers. Charges of first-degree murder have been leveled against Van Dyke.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlRP4s7hQh3/?taken-by=precise_chi
What are your thoughts on this incident? Could it have been handled better? Would it have made a difference in the outcome? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
