Mother Has Questions After Police Shoot, Kill Man They Say Was Wielding Knife In Englewood
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A mother was left with questions Sunday after Chicago Police shot and killed her son in Englewood in the morning hours.
Officers said Turell Brown, 28, had a knife as they confronted him during a domestic incident in the 6500 block of South Harvard Avenue.
His mother told CBS 2's Steven Graves the disturbance to which police responded was a quarrel between her son and his girlfriend. She knows that because the girlfriend called her soon after it happened.
Angela Wade-Brown said she got the call from her son's girlfriend on Sunday morning.
"She called me at 11 this morning," Wade-Brown said. "She said, 'You need to get out here because the police just shot your son.'"
She came to find the intersection of 65th Street and Harvard Avenue taped off. Brown and his girlfriend live in an apartment building at that location.
Wade-Brown said police had no answers, so she talked to her son's girlfriend further – later telling her the two got into a quarrel on a lower floor, and then it came up to the apartment,
"He went into the bedroom, shut the door, and she stayed in the living room and called police," Wade-Brown said.
Brown then opened the bedroom door, his mother said. Chicago Police confirmed what Brown's girlfriend claimed, that Brown was carrying a knife at that time.
"They asked him to put the knife down and I guess he didn't, so then she says they shot him," Wade-Brown said.
The details of that confrontation are unclear. Chicago Police have only said they were on the scene for a domestic disturbance.
Wade-Brown said this was not the first time her son and his girlfriend argued, or that police were called to get involved.
"I told him if they couldn't get along, they shouldn't be there. But they were still being back together," she said. "But I felt like even though they might have had their arguments or whatever, it wasn't a cause for him to lose his life. They didn't have to shoot to kill him. They could have shot him in the arm and for him to drop the weapon. They could have shot him in the leg. But they shot and they killed him. And I feel like he didn't have to lose his life because of that."
Chicago Police have not said if the officer who fired the gun was hurt. A midday police news conference at the scene was canceled.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating, and the officer who fired the shot will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days as per protocol in all police shootings.
Further inquiries can be directed to COPA at (312) 746-3609.
Meanwhile, Wade-Brown – who got little information from officers, just wants answers.
"Right now, I really can't think," she said. "It's just so hard that my son is gone."
We have many requests in for information on how many times and where police shot Brown, and if there is any available body camera footage.
