COPA releases video of Chicago police fatally shooting suspect during hostage situation in Ford City
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has released body camera video showing SWAT teams trying to negotiate with a gunman during a hostage situation in an apartment near the Ford City Mall last month, before police shot and killed the man.
On April 3, Chicago police rushed to an apartment building near 77th and Pulaski, where someone had just called about a domestic disturbance.
Inside, officers found a woman who had been shot, lying bleeding on the floor. She told officers the gunman, 58-year-old Frank Campbell, was still inside the apartment, in another room with her father, who'd also been shot.
Campbell fired shots at the responding officers, but no officers were hit, and they did not return fire at that point, police have said.
Police tried to get Campbell to surrender, but he refused. The shooter then barricaded himself inside an apartment, where he was holding the woman's father hostage. Meantime, officers pulled the woman out of the apartment and down the hallway, while an ambulance rushed to the scene.
After SWAT officers spent about two hours trying to negotiate with Campbell, and talk him into surrendering, police shot and killed him.
COPA released footage from six police officers' body cameras on Tuesday, though none of them are from the SWAT officer who shot Campbell, as SWAT team members are not equipped with body cameras. Rather, each of the videos is from an officer standing down the hall during the standoff.
***WARNING: Video contains graphic content. Shooting happens at approximately 1:56:45 into video***
Each body camera video recording lasts about two hours, and while they don't show the initial encounter with Campbell, when he fired shots at police as they were first arriving on scene, SWAT officers can be heard repeatedly urging Campbell to drop his gun and come out of the apartment.
"Come on, man, just kneel down. Put it on the floor. Put it on the floor," an officer can be heard saying. "You want to do something right? You start with that, and then we'll go to the ambulance."
Campbell also can be heard asking police if he can talk to his mother, and SWAT officers tell him she's on her way.
CAMPBELL: "I want you to tell me I can call my mom."
OFFICER: "You are. Your mom's going to be here. She's already on the way from Milwaukee."
Throughout the standoff, several officers can be seen standing in the hallway outside the apartment where Cambpell had barricaded himself, asking him again and again to put down his weapon.
"Let's get back on track. Just put the gun down on the ground and walk towards me. I need you to come to me, and then we'll walk down to the ambulance. Easy as that. Please, I'm begging you. Are we cool?" an officer can be heard saying just moments before shooting Campbell.
At that point, although his voice is somewhat muffled, it sounded like Campbell said he was going to shoot himself.
"No, don't do that. Don't do that, Frank. Put the gun down, Frankie," an officer said.
Seconds later, body camera video shows a SWAT officer at the door raise his handgun and start firing into the apartment.
A COPA spokesperson would only say that the gunman engaged with the SWAT team, resulting in those fatal shots.
As those shots were fired, some officers in the hallway took cover before police rushed into the apartment. Body camera footage shows officers administering first aid to Campbell while others searched the apartment for the hostage he'd shot.
"There should be another victim in there," an officer can be heard saying.
After the standoff ended, the man Campbell had shot was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Campbell was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on 30 days of administrative duties, as is standard procedure whenever a Chicago police officer shoots someone.
COPA's investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
