Video from the scene of a fatal shooting Sunday in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood shows tensions flaring between residents and police as witnesses claim a vehicle was towed with the bodies of two shooting victims still inside.
The video surfaced showing the vehicle being towed after two men were killed in a shooting near North Avers Avenue and Ferdinand Street.
The shooting happened just after 2:30 a.m. Sunday when a gunman walked up to a parked car with the two victims and two women inside and opened fire, according to authorities. The two men suffered multiple gunshot wounds to their bodies and were pronounced dead at the scene. The women suffered injuries from shattering glass, police said.
One of the victims was identified by family as a 32-year-old father named Daren Thomas Jr. The other victim was a 35-year-old man, police said.
While police were investigating the scene, witnesses were seen shouting as the shot vehicle was towed away. One of the crowd members recorded video of a tow truck pulling the vehicle away and claimed it had at least one body still inside.
“They are towing the car with a deceased body in it,” the man says while filming. “They towed the car with the body hanging out the window. When did it become procedure to tow a car with a deceased body hanging out of the window with a repo truck?”
Chicago Police News Affairs could not immediately confirm if one or both of the bodies were in the vehicle at the time, but said in a statement that the bodies can be left in a vehicle under “unique circumstances.”
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The video was posted to YouTube and Facebook Sunday by James Hawthorne, user Jhustlecity, with the caption “[Some] police have no respect for the dead or their families, this is just crazy…”
The video has since been viewed more than 900,000 times and shared more than 33,000 times.
Several people standing near crime scene tape blocking off the scene are heard in the footage yelling at the group of officers near the scene.
“They can’t tow that car with them in there,” a woman shouts.
Police said in a statement "from time to time, depending on the unique circumstances of the death, bodies may be left in vehicles and removed in private area at the ME'S office.”
“This would be done to protect the integrity of the crime scene (the car) while at the same time preserving the dignity of the deceased by handling their bodies in a private area rather than on the street in full view of onlookers," the statement read. “CPD is sensitive to the handling of bodies in public, and detective bureau has implemented procedures to minimize any community concerns that may arise from the manner in which crime scenes are processed.”
(Warning: Video below contains graphic language)
