Lightfoot On Shooting Death Of 13-Year-Old By CPD, His Access To A Gun: 'No Evidence Whatsoever Adam Toledo Shot At The Police'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With her voice cracking and at times holding back tears, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged for calm with the anticipated release of bodycam video showing 13-year-old Adam shot to death by a CPD officer.
The video is set to be released on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
"I I don't want to get into the real substance of this because the independent investigation is going on, but I've seen no evidence whatsoever that Adam Toledo shot at the police," said Lightfoot of the bodycam video.
"A little over two weeks ago a tragedy occurred that left a child dead, a mother in mourning, and a family in crisis,Lightfoot said. "In the early morning hours of Monday March 29 Little Village in Chicago police officer shot and killed a 13 year old boy that we now know was Adam Toledo."
She added "I urge everyone reserve judgment until the civilian office of police accountability (COPA) has done its work. And I'm urging COPA, to do that work. Early transparently and with all deliberate speed."
The mayor added that police policy on foot chases also need to be revised.
"We have to do more starting working for me in the Chicago Police Department's policies in particularly the foot pursuit policy. I said this in August of 2018. And here we are now in 2021.
But pursuits, put everyone involved at risk. Officers, the person being pursued and bystanders. We have to do better. And I charge the superintendent would bring to me a policy that recognizes how dangerous this is."
Lightfoot said she had seen the video but didn't comment on what she saw.
"I also ask that each of us. Give them space to breathe," Lightfoot said. "No parent should ever have a video broadcast, widely other child's last moments, much less be placed in a terrible situation of losing their child in the first place. Even as our understanding of this incident continues to evolve, this remains a complicated and nuanced story.And we all must proceed with deep empathy."
Lightfoot said it was it was the access to firearms that contributed to Toledo's death.
"There are a number of forces that met up at 2:30 in the morning on March 29 in an alley. Simply put, we failed Adam and we cannot afford to fail one more young person in our city," Lightfoot said, who added that the access Toledo had is a common story.
"Every year, the Chicago Police Department but covers more guns than New York and L.A. combined, not because we have a better strategy, not because we pay more attention, but because we have too many damn guns on our streets," Lightfoot said, who added that she plans to connect with the Biden administration to close loopholes allowing easy access to firearms.
"I'd spoken and I will continue to speak with the by the administration about what the federal government must do now in this moment, to close loopholes to provide background checks, and to step up and do the things that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do," Lightfoot said.
On Thursday morning, Chicago Police increased its patrols in the Loop, to prepare in case any protests turn violent.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Toledo's family viewed the video footage of the teen's shooting death by police during what authorities have said was an armed encounter in a Little Village alley early on the morning of Monday, March 29.
Five Things We Know About The Adam Toledo Police Shooting Case
At the request of the family, COPA said Tuesday that it would not "immediately" release the body cam video to the public.
"COPA has remained sensitive to the family's grief and is carrying out this release in accordance with the City's Video Release Policy," the office said in a statement. COPA said police body camera video, third party video, emergency dispatch transmissions and data from gunshot spotter tracking will be included in the release.
Days after the shooting, CBS 2 asked the family attorney about the possibility of Adam having a gun when police shot and killed him. The attorney, Adeena Weiss Ortiz, said such a development would surprise the family.
In the days immediately after the shooting, police never mentioned the person they shot was 13 years old. Instead, that information was released three days later by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Lightfoot said the ongoing murder trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, in the death of George Floyd, is not "part of the calculus" in deciding when to release the video in the shooting death of Adam Toledo.
"This is about being respectful, and balancing the need for transparency with this grieving family that's having an extraordinarily difficult time," Lightfoot said.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, peaceful protest continued Wednesday night in the Loop over the police shooting, as the Toledo family called for calm.
For 16 days – with Wednesday night being no exception - Little Village community leaders have been in the streets calling for the public release of the body camera video.
"Justice for Adam Toledo, justice for the Toledo family, and justice for Little Village," Baltazar Enriquez of the Little Village Community Council said Wednesday.
Police said they were responding to eight ShotSpotter alerts in the area of 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue when an officer went on to shoot and kill Adam.
At a bond hearing Saturday for the man who was with Adam Toledo, prosecutors said Adam had a gun in his hand when an officer shot and killed him.
Prosecutors said while defendant Ruben Roman was the one to fire the gun, Adam was holding it when he was shot and killed by police at a point when Roman was already being detained.
Days after the shooting, we asked the family attorney about the possibility of Adam having a gun when police shot and killed him. The attorney, Adeena Weiss Ortiz, said such a development would surprise the family.
In the days immediately after the shooting, police never mentioned the person they shot was 13 years old. Instead, that information was released three days later by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Lightfoot has said she wants to know who gave the teenager a gun.
The funeral for Adam was held last Friday.
