With Chicago's top cop gone, activists eye mayor next
CHICAGO - After Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Garry McCarthy from his post as Chicago police chief amid the Laquan McDonald shooting fallout, protesters danced in the streets.
However, CBS Chicago reports that while the protesters had gotten their wish with McCarthy's ouster, they said they wanted more, and have set their sights on Mayor Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez for their handling of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.
Van Dyke has been charged with murder for McDonald's death, and video of the shooting released last week shows him shooting McDonald 16 times on Oct. 20, 2014, as McDonald was walking away from police.
Protesters have expressed outrage that the video was released more than a year after the incident, and that what it shows contradicts the statements made by some Chicago police and officials, namely that McDonald had attacked police.
The anger towards Emanuel was also on display at the premiere of Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" on Tuesday night.
Lee's satire is based on the ancient Greek play "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes. This modern adaptation is about the murder of a child hit by a stray bullet in Chicago's South Side, and the group of women that organize a unique way of dealing with the ongoing violence; they hold back sex.
Chicago actor John Cusack, who appears in the film, said the shootings and killings in Chicago each year are "unacceptable," and cited political motives.
He said the police officer involved in shooting the 17-year-old wasn't charged or the superintendent fired until the city's election had passed. Emanuel won a second term earlier this year. The shooting took place in 2014.
"It's very tragic that information was suppressed for an election cycle," Cusack said.
One of the organizers of the protests that followed McCarthy's fired echoed Cusack's concern.
Aislinn Sol told CBS Chicago: "We've been wanting McCarthy fired. We've been wanting Rahm to be fired. We've been wanting Anita Alvarez to be fired."
In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, Emanuel addressed and dismissed concerns about a cover-up. He repeated the claim Chicago officials have often made, namely that the controversial Laquan McDonald video was a primary piece of evidence in an ongoing and serious investigation, and that releasing it any earlier would have damaged official efforts.
"If you're worried about a cover up - the last person you should be worried about is me," Emanuel said. "All that information is with the FBI, when they conclude it, all of those things will be answered. If there's an action required after that, to hold people accountable, we will."