CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After Chicago's police oversight agency released footage from a fatal police shooting on the city's West Side, Mayor Brandon Johnson called for calm and patience — while the victim's family called for criminal charges to be filed against some of the officers on Tuesday.
Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), said the encounter happened on March 21, when a tactical unit of five police officers in an unmarked car stopped the vehicle driven by 26-year-old Dexter Reed Jr.
"The purported reason for the traffic stop was that Mr. Reed was not wearing a seatbelt," Kersten said. "Upon stopping Mr. Reed's vehicle, officers surrounded his car and began giving him verbal commands."
He did not comply, officials said, and in less than one minute there was gunfire. Kersten said the evidence and the information suggested that Reed fired first — striking one officer in the forearm.
"Four different officers returned fire approximately 96 times at Mr. Reed, including after he exited his vehicle and while he was lying on the ground," she said.
Reed's mother Nicole Banks spoke alongside family members and attorneys on Tuesday. She said he was a good kid. Banks told reporters "I feel like I have been shot," and then she broke down.
Dexter Reed Jr.'s sister and mother speak to reporters on Tuesday following the release of videos that showed the shooting in which Reed was killed by Chicago police.CBS 2 Chicago
"They killed him," she repeated. "They killed him. They killed him."
Lawyers said the family didn't want any violence in the city based on this incident, and attorney Steven Hart said it was "a very important day in the city,"
"Oftentimes we hear in unjustified shootings that officers felt they were at risk because someone was pointing a gun at them, yet when they create the same set of circumstances, they fire away 96 times in 41 seconds," he said. "They fire away 40 times on an unarmed man outside his vehicle. They fire away after reloading their clips three times on a young man who was lying on the ground, having already been shot."
COPA officials said a gun was recovered on the front passenger seat of Mr. Reed's vehicle.
Hart said the response from police for a seatbelt violation felt "disproportionate."
"There is a problem with policing in this city when five tactical officers jump out of an unmarked police car, brandishing their weapons for a young man that wasn't wearing his seatbelt," he said.
Another attorney, Sheila Betty, said "police officers are on the hunt" and added that "they saw him as prey."
Johnson said there would be transparency as the city looks into this police shooting.
"Attempts to withhold or delay information are mistakes of the past, and we have already taken concrete steps to start a full investigation into this case," he said.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said her office's Law Enforcement Accountability Division will review the case.
"If the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the force used was illegal, our office will file criminal charges," she said.
Foxx added that if her office finds that if the evidence does not prove that officers' use of force was illegal beyond a reasonable doubt, then they will request an additional review by the Illinois State's Attorneys appellate prosecutor. That prosecutor would be tasked with making a final determination.
COPA made dozens of videos and materials regarding the March 21 shooting available on its website.
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