(Photo: Adam Toledo/Courtesy of Elizabeth Toledo)
DeKalb, IL — Prosecutors detailed the minutes leading up to the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by Chicago police, as seen on the officer’s body camera, during a bail hearing Saturday for the man who was with the boy at the time of the incident.
The boy’s family has been waiting nearly two weeks to review the video.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert of eight shots fired March 29 in the Little Village neighborhood when they saw two “males” in an alley, and one of them had a gun. The officers chased them on foot, “which resulted in an armed confrontation,” said Chicago Police Supt. David Brown.
Prosecutors said surveillance cameras in the area captured Ruben Roman, 21, allegedly firing the gunshots as the boy stood next to him, which set off the alert for police. They ran in an alley and officers saw them. Roman was tackled by police while Toledo ran.
The boy, who eventually stopped running, was holding the gun the man allegedly fired. He had been repeatedly told to “drop it,” but didn’t and turned toward the officer. The officer shot him in the chest, according to prosecutors.
The Toledo family is expected to see the video this week.
Initially, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), which investigates all police shootings, said state law prohibited the release since the shooting involved a minor. But it later said it was reviewing the law, after Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Brown and local activists called for the release.