Woman ‘Accidentally’ Shot Dead By Chicago Cop

When the police arrived, family members said, the landlord called down to Jones, his downstairs tenant, to answer the door.

Officers who responded to a 911 call “were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon”, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement Saturday.

Chicago Police say a 55-year-old woman fatally shot by one or more officers was “accidentally struck and tragically killed”.

“They took his life”, LeGrier’s mother Janet Cooksey told the Tribune.

Reverend Marshall Hatch said in a statement early on Sunday that the latest shooting showed how “deeply dysfunctional the relationship is between this department and its citizens”.

The killings occur amid national concerns over a series of African-American shooting deaths by police that have given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Chicago Police Department also is under a federal civil rights investigation looking into patterns of racial disparity in the use of force as well as the way department handles officer discipline and misconduct.

The mayor said he has asked Chicago Police and the Independent Police Review Authority to determine “the deficiencies in the current training” for the Crisis Intervention Team, and to “determine what steps can be taken immediately to address them”.

Jacqueline Walker, a friend of Bettie Jones who was also present at the news conference, asked why police “shoot first and ask questions later”. But neither Chicago police, nor IPRA, the agency tasked with investigating all police shootings, are saying anything. He said Saturday it was “very early on in the investigation” and he couldn’t release further details.

Police tactics and racism have been the subject of a national debate since protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, in mid-2014 over the shooting death of black teenager, 18-year-old Michael Brown. And it has happened at a time of increased scrutiny of police shootings across the country. The interim superintendent assumed the position when Superintendent Garry McCarthy was sacked after a cover up in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The other person shot, 55-year-old Bettie Jones, lived in a ground-floor apartment.

The group BYP 100 is holding a vigil for Bettie Jones at 2 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Erie Street and Kilpatrick Avenue. “The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends”, the statement read.

He added: “We need relief in Chicago”.

His father told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son had “emotional problems”. When the father returned to his second-floor apartment early Saturday, the son appeared to be a “little agitated”, Antonio LeGrier said. Reporter: Legrier’s grieving mother says her son had mental health issues but studied engineering and had a bright future. “My son has seven bullet holes in him”.

Antonio LeGrier said he also called Ms Jones to warn her that his son was a “little irate” and to not open her door unless police arrived.

She said her son “didn’t have a gun”. It is not clear whether Jones had even finished opening up the door for them when officers fired at Legrier who was charging down the stairs still carrying the bat.

He said he heard gunshots as he made his way down from the second floor and then saw his son and Ms Jones lying in the foyer. “I don’t believe it”, the elder LeGrier said.

Jones’ daughter, Latisha, told the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune that she woke up when she heard gunshots, walked to the front door and saw her mother bleeding on the ground. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Sunday that he was shot multiple times.

“He was an honor student in college”, LeGrier’s mother told WBBM.

A protest is planned this week outside the office of one of Emanuel’s top backers, Kenneth Griffin, the Chicago billionaire who is the chief executive of hedge fund Citadel.

Melvin Jones, the brother of the woman killed Saturday, said his sister celebrated Christmas at her apartment Friday with about 15 other relatives. He said she lived there with her boyfriend. They did not say whether there was a video of the incident, provided no information on officers involved, and said the department was unlikely to say any more on Sunday.