COPA Completes Investigation Into Fatal 2021 Police Shooting Of Anthony Alvarez
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Ten months after a Chicago police officer shot and killed 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez during a foot chase in Portage Park, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability has completed its investigation into whether the shooting was justified.
COPA will not release its findings until after Chicago Police Supt. David Brown has reviewed the report and determined if he will seek any disciplinary action against Officer Evan Solano, who was stripped of his police powers three months after the shooting, at COPA's recommendation.
Video of the shooting showed Alvarez holding a gun in his right hand as he was running away from Solano around 12:20 a.m. on March 31, 2021. Solano could be heard ordering Alvarez to drop the gun just before shooting him as Alvarez's back was still turned to the officer in the front yard of a home in the 5200 block of West Eddy Street.
COPA recommended Solano be stripped of his police powers on April 28, the same day the agency released video footage from the shooting, but CPD waited until June to act. Being stripped of his police powers means Solano is no longer allowed to carry his department-issued gun or wear the badge.
It's unclear why Brown waited two months to strip Solano of his police powers.
Surveillance video from the night of the shooting, which happened in the early-morning hours on Wednesday, March 31 - shows a squad car chasing Alvarez at a gas station in Portage Park.
Officer Solano's body camera shows him running down an alley and eventually around a corner onto a front lawn near Laramie Avenue and Eddy Street.
Alvarez's back was facing the officer at the moment he was shot, but a gun was visible in his right hand, moving from right to left. Solano shot him in the back and knee.
In doorbell camera video from a nearby house, the gun Alvarez was holding appears to fly out of his hand after he was shot, landing behind a small staircase in the yard.
After the officer shot Alvarez, video shows him moaning on the ground, asking "Why are you shooting me?"
"You had a gun," Solano responded.
In the minutes that follow, Solano can be seen performing chest compressions on Alvarez, and using Alvarez's belt as a tourniquet to try to save him.
In a separate incident in May 2021, cell video surfaced reportedly showing Officer Solano pull his gun in what is described as a road rage incident in Logan Square.
At the time he shot Alvarez, Solano had been on the force for nearly six years, and according to the Citizens Police Data Project, he has had one closed complaint against him. He has a total of four complaints against him altogether, and 11 use of force reports between 2017 and mid-2020, according to data compiled by the Invisible Institute that tracks police misconduct allegations.
Alvarez died two days after police shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo during a foot chase in Little Village.
Body camera of Adam's shootings shows him dropping a gun seconds before Officer Eric Stillman shoots him in the chest in an alley. While Adam had a gun in his right hand behind his back just a moment before the shooting, he was raising his arms with his hands empty when the officer opened fire and shot him in the chest.
Toledo's case remains under investigation by COPA.