Family Disagrees 19-Year-Old Had Weapon Before Police Fatally Shot Him
(CBS) – A 19-year-old Dolton man fatally shot by Chicago police late Wednesday was not carrying a gun as officers claim, a family member tells CBS 2.
Kajuan Raye and a friend were waiting for a bus at 54th and Ashland when police pulled and told them to come over to the vehicle. Instead, Raye and his friend ran, cousin Ahkeya White says.
Police say Raye was a suspect who brandished an unspecified "weapon" during a foot chase in the West Englewood neighborhood around 11 p.m. A Chicago police sergeant shot the suspect, who late died at the hospital.
"That's their story. They need a cover story," White, the cousin, told reporters early Thursday when asked about the police account.
White said her cousin did not own a gun. He was on his way home when police approached him. He ran because, as a young black man, he was afraid of police, the relative said.
"We are depending on the justice system, the legal system, to do what they do. They can search all night. There is no gun involved," White said. "The only gun that was fired was from the Chicago Police Department."
The officer-involved shooting is being investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Thursday that evidence technicians cannot find the weapon that prompted the police sergeant to shoot.
The sergeant had been dispatched to call of a battery in progress.
Activists are outraged. Witnesses say the police sergeant is white; Raye was black.
Johnson said police in the Englewood District have not yet begun to wear body cameras, which are supposed to be turned on any time an officer interacts with the public. Instead, he said, police are seeking private security video of the chase and shooting, including video from a nearby church.
"They said that he had a gun," Activist Ja'Mal Green said. "I'm tired of the same narrative being pushed on every situation."
Green said that in a phone call with Johnson, he demanded the immediate suspension of the sergeant, but said Johnson told him he was not ready to take that step.
Johnson did not take questions from the media after making a brief statement Thursday at police headquarters.
Another activist, Eric Russell, said he was "outraged" by the shooting.
"They're being judge, jury and executioner," Russell said. "We demand to be respectfully engaged."
Raye's family released a statement saying they have hired an attorney.