Another emotional vigil was held in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood Tuesday evening, just steps away from the alley where 13-year-old Adam Toledo was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer last week.
Like similar gatherings, the message of the group was a simple one, as they continued to press for video footage of the shooting to be made public.
“We’ve asked for tapes for a week,” Baltazar Enriquez of the Little Village Community Council said. “We’ve seen the mayor being apologetic and hypocritical, saying she feels our pain, yet she hasn’t released the video.”
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said that officers responded to a call of shots fired at approximately 2:37 a.m. in the 2300 block of South Sawyer on March 29, and saw two males standing in a nearby alley. Both fled, according to police, who said officers chased them, with one opening fire, shooting Toledo in the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and a weapon was recovered, Brown said.
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NBC 5 has not independently verified the reports of the incident from police.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is continuing to investigate the shooting. The police oversight agency initially said it would not publicly released body camera footage because of state law governing cases involving a juvenile, but reversed course under public pressure last week.
The group that gathered in Little Village Tuesday is continuing to push for the footage to be released, saying they invited the 10th District police commander for a “peace talk.” That invitation, they say, was declined.
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“He said the reason he didn’t want to come out is because his life was in threat,” Enriquez said. “He received threats from the community.”
Several vigils have been held this week, as family and supporters have repeatedly called for the police department to release footage of the fatal encounter.
COPA says that it plans to meet with Toledo’s family to show them the footage, and that the footage will be made public within 60 days of the shooting.
