CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A West Side Pastor joins the growing chorus of Chicagoans asking questions about the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was killed by police last week in Little Village.
But Pastor Matt Demateo of New Life Church also said everyone — himself included — failed to protect the seventh-grader from the streets.
“I feel that we failed this young person,” Demateo said Monday. “I failed Adam Toledo. We as a city failed Adam Toledo.”
Toledo’s mother, Elizabeth, has said her son was a nice boy who still played with toys.
Demateo said under the right circumstances the boy could have been a future police officer.
“We lost a future police officer to a police officer,” he said. “That’s heavy.”
Police say Adam Toledo died early March 29 when police responded to shots being fired near 24th and Sawyer. Authorities say some kind of confrontation occurred, and police shot Toledo in the chest. A weapon was recovered, they say.
Mayor Lightfoot on Monday directed the Chicago Police Department to review its policy on foot chases and expressed anger that someone — likely an adult — gave a gun to the boy.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is investigating the police-involved shooting and expects to release body cam video to the public eventually.
Police took a 21-year-old into custody after Toledo was shot.
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