Chicago police fatally shoot 2 people in 24 hours
CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer shot and killed a gunman who had killed one person and injured another early Friday, in the second fatal shooting involving the city’s police in just over 24 hours.
The incident followed an unrelated shooting late Wednesday in which a sergeant responding to a call of a battery in progress on the city’s South Side shot and killed a 19-year-old man during a foot chase. A search failed to uncover a weapon the sergeant told investigators the man was carrying and relatives of the dead teenager are disputing police statements that he was armed.
Authorities haven’t identified the man shot during the foot chase, but relatives identified him as Kajuan Raye of Dolton. Police said a sergeant opened fire when the man pointed a gun at him.
Raye’s cousin, Ahkeya White, told reporters Raye was trying to figure out what he wanted to do and that he’ll be greatly missed.
White told CBS Chicago her cousin didn’t own a gun. She said he was on his way home when police approached him, and he ran because as a young black man, he was afraid of police.
White said police “need a cover story.”
“They can search all night. There is no gun involved,” White said. “The only gun that was fired was from the Chicago Police Department.”
Raye’s mother said she doesn’t know if her son was armed. But 38-year-old Karonisha Ramsey told the Chicago Sun-Times if he did have a gun it “should have been right there” when he was fatally shot.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson during a Thanksgiving Day news conference at police headquarters said the department completed a grid search for ballistic evidence or a gun “and the offender’s weapon and we were not able to locate a weapon as of yet.”
Police in that district have yet to begin wearing body cameras, Johnson said. Police are seeking private security of the case and shooting.
Johnson did not take questions.
In contrast, a weapon was recovered at the scene of the second incident, which began around 12:30 a.m. Friday. It began when officers on patrol witnessed a shooting in the Homan Square neighborhood on Chicago’s west side. An injured man was in stable condition at a hospital. No names were released.
In both incidents, officers involved will work on administrative duties for at least 30 days, which is standard practice. The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating both incidents.
Thursday was the anniversary of the release of a video showing a Chicago officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times and protesters planned a shopping boycott Friday on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile on the busiest shopping day of the year. A probe of Chicago police practices by the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is expected to wrap up in the first months of next year.