Nephew of woman shot by Chicago police: It's "unbelievable"
CHICAGO -- There was another police shooting in Chicago over the weekend. This time, two people were killed, and police admit one of them was shot by mistake.
But police aren't saying exactly what happened, and the victims' families are demanding answers.
Police went to a home on Chicago's West Side early Saturday morning, after the father of 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier called to say his son was threatening him and swinging a baseball bat.
Ten minutes later on police radio: "Shots fired out here, shots fired, shots fired! We've got two down, two down!"
Officers shot and killed LeGrier, a college student home for Christmas break. His mother said his behavior recently changed.
They also shot and killed a neighbor by mistake. Bettie Jones, a mother of five, had been asked by LeGrier's father to keep an eye out for the arriving officers.
"A 55-year-old lady was shot down by a Chicago police officer, and with the climate we're in in Chicago that's almost unbelievable," Jahmal Cole, Jones' nephew, told CBS News.
"Nobody should be shot down on their doorstep, but my aunt especially was not a person that deserved that."
There have been weeks of protests over police shootings, including that of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by an officer in October of last year. The officer is now charged with first-degree murder.
Over the weekend, LaGrier's mother Janet Cooksey stood with others wearing anti-Rahm Emmanuel t-shirts, calling for an investigation.
"When is the mayor going to step up," she said.
Responding to the shooting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement saying "it is clear changes are needed to how officers respond to mental health crises."
In a sign of the seriousness of the problems in Chicago, Mayor Emanuel cut short his family vacation in Cuba to return to Chicago on Monday.
