Protesters Gather Downtown, In Union Park, At Chicago FOP Headquarters Following Release Of Video Showing Police Shooting That Killed Adam Toledo
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Protesters gathered downtown and on the Near West Side Thursday evening following the release of videos showing Chicago Police shooting and killing 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
Before sundown, video from Chopper 2 showed a small number of protesters forming a circle in the middle of the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. The group then began marching north over the Michigan Avenue Bridge on the sidewalk.
Protesters headed north to Chicago Avenue on Michigan Avenue and then back south, crossing back into the Loop. That protest ended at Michigan Avenue and Madison Street before dispersing.
LIVE UPDATES: Protests Follow Release Of Video Of Police Shooting That Killed Adam Toledo
Meanwhile, protesters gathered in Union Park on the Near West Side Thursday evening and headed east on Randolph Street after stopping outside the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police headquarters a short distance away.
Officers in full riot gear responded to the scene in case anything happened, but the protest remained peaceful as marchers headed east on Randolph Street toward the Loop.
CBS 2's Jermont Terry was on the scene in the West Loop, and talked with Rahila Coats, a protester who is from Minneapolis originally, but now lives in Chicago. Terry asked Coats what makes the Adam Toledo case specifically resonate with her.
"There's so many videos that are circulating of young Black kids dying – or Black and Brown kids are dying – or even people that are 20 years old, who are younger than I am," Coats said. "How many videos do I have to see before I make a change? There shouldn't even be a video. There should never be something like this happening."
Adam was shot and killed by police early on the morning of March 20. Footage released Thursday by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability shows Adam and 21-year-old Ruben Roman standing on a street corner when several shots were fired.
Both then ran past a church and into a nearby alley. Body camera footage shows an officer chasing Adam down the alley, telling the boy to show the officer his hands.
"Stop! Stop right f***ing now! Hands! Show me your f***ing hands!" the officer is heard saying.
Adam can then be seen stopping near a gap in the fence in the alley, with both hands at his side, his left shoulder facing the officer.
When the video is slowed down, a frame of the footage does appear to show a gun in Adam's hand just before he raises his arms and the officer opens fire.
The first time a gun is clearly visible in the officer's body camera video is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the officer shot Adam, when the officer shines his flashlight on a handgun on the ground, leaning against the fence next to Adam, on the other side of the alley.
How did that gun get to the back side of the fence? That's likely a key question in the COPA investigation of the shooting.
Surveillance camera video from a building near the alley appears to show Adam's hand on the other side of the fence from the alley just instants before he was shot.
Only a matter of seconds elapse between the time the officer yelled for Adam to stop, asking him to show his hands, Adam putting his hands up, and the officer shooting him.
Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said only about one second elapsed between the time Adam began turning toward the officer and when the officer shot him.
