Emanuel Cuts Family Trip to Cuba Short Following 2 Police-Involved Shootings

Mayor Emanuel is expected to return Tuesday afternoon, hours after the Rev. Al Sharpton called for his resignation

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will cut his family trip to Cuba short after a round of police shootings over the weekend killed two people and left another wounded.

Emanuel’s early return is in response to two officer-involved shootings, one of which claimed the lives of a 19-year-old Northern Illinois University student and the teen’s 55-year-old neighbor.

Police later admitted that the 55-year-old woman’s shooting was an accident, and that Bettie Jones was tragically killed when officers fired while responding to a domestic disturbance call on the city’s West Side. Nineteen-year-old Quintonio LeGrier was also killed in the shooting after police said he was threatening his father with a metal baseball bat.

Twelve hours later, another man was injured in a police-involved shooting and was taken to the hospital in serious-to-critical condition, authorities said.

"While Mayor Emanuel has been in constant contact with his staff and Interim Superintendent Escalante, he is cutting his family trip short so that he can continue the ongoing work of restoring accountability and trust in the Chicago Police Department,” mayoral spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement.

Emanuel is expected to return Tuesday afternoon, Collins said.

The announcement comes hours after the Rev. Al Sharpton called for Emanuel to resign over his handling of these latest shootings, which he described as "a crisis on steroids."

"I've never seen this kind of detachment in the years that I've been fighting. Whether I got along with the mayor or not, how do you stay in Cuba on vacation?" Sharpton said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

His comments echo other calls for action made by the families of Jones and LeGrier at a news conference Sunday. 

"When is the mayor going to step up?" Janet Cooksey said. "CPD has failed us over and over."

Emanuel also on Monday announced two “significant” measures of reform in the Chicago Police Department.

Under a new policy, all Chicago police officers who have fired their weapons will be placed on administrative duty, away from the field, for at least 30 days while authorities investigate their training and fitness for duty.

The city has also called on Interim Police Supt. John Escalante and the head of Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority, Sharon Fairley, to review the department's crisis intervention and de-escalation policies.

Sharpton also criticized Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner for not speaking out as the outcry over the Chicago Police Department's handling of officer-involved shootings has grown.  

"We have not heard him say he would sign a bill for recall" so Emanuel can be voted out of office, Sharpton said. "Why some of the local leaders in Chicago are giving him a pass I think is absolutely an outrage." 

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