A Chicago police inventory of items recovered from the scene where 13-year-old Adam Toledo was shot by police indicates the weapon Toledo was holding was empty.
The document was obtained by NBC5 Investigates via a Freedom of Information Act request.
The inventory lists two weapons held by investigators from the scene. The first, was a Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which was registered to police officer Eric Stillman, who fired the single shot which hit Toledo in the chest.
The second weapon is a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which the report notes was "recovered from lot". The same report further states that investigators recovered "(EMPTY) Ruger 9mm magazine, unknown capacity, black in color, from above listed handgun."
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Stillman's discovery of the weapon near Toledo's body was documented on body camera video, which was released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability last week. When he was pursuing Toledo, the officer would have had no way of knowing that the gun the youth was carrying was empty.
A second individual, 21-year-old Ruben Roman, was arrested near the site where Toledo was fatally shot. During his court appearance April 10, Cook County prosecutors said the gun Toledo was holding landed a few feet from his body, and identified it as a 9mm Ruger.
Prosecutor James Murphy said the weapon matched shell casings recovered from a site where Toledo was seen on surveillance video with Roman, as the 21 year old fired at least eight shots at an unknown target less than 15 minutes before the confrontation with police.
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It was those shots which had brought police to the neighborhood, after an alert from ShotSpotter sensors in the area. Murphy noted that Toledo's hand tested positive for gunshot residue, as did gloves dropped by Roman near the scene.
It isn't known how or when the weapon, which police say Roman had been firing, ended up being transferred into Toledo's hands.
Video from Stillman's body camera documented his pursuit of the youth down the alley. Less than a second before he was shot, a gun is visible in Toledo's right hand. As he whirled toward the officer, he either dropped or threw the gun to the spot where it was found, but he was shot by Stillman as he was beginning to raise his hands.
The report only compounds the tragedy, adding the fact that the weapon Toledo apparently failed to drop during the pursuit had no bullets.
Officer Stillman was placed on routine administrative leave. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is investigating the shooting.
