Chicago police shooting of grandmother, teen draws criticism

Family and friends mourned a Chicago teenager and a neighbor during a memorial service Sunday – the day after police shot the two during a domestic disturbance call.

“A 55-year-old lady was shot down by a Chicago police officer, and with the climate we’re in in Chicago that’s nearly unbelievable”, Jahmal Cole, Jones’ nephew, told CBS News. Relatives said they believe Jones was behind the 19-year-old and by the entrance to her apartment when the shooting began. The second was from someone who announced himself as Antonio LeGrier who said his son was beating on his door with a baseball bat in his hand. A police department statement said Jones “was accidently struck”.

The shootings came amid scrutiny of police across the country after a series of deaths of blacks by officers.

In an emotional address and wearing a sweatshirt that said “Rahm Killed Us”, an apparent reference to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Cooksey recalled her son’s participation in a charity marathon a year ago and his time time spent on the honor roll.

Many people in Chicago – already reeling from other recent incidents in which the police are said to have been too ready to pull the trigger – condemned the shootings. But at a news conference Sunday, LeGrier’s mother, Janet Cooksey, told reporters that her son was not violent or troubled.

ABC-affiliate WLS reported that it’s unclear whether Jones had finished opening the door when one or more officers shot at LeGrier, “who was charging down the stairs still carrying the bat”.

LeGrier and Jones, both of whom were black, were declared dead at the hospital; both were found shot near the doorway. Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-year-old whom police say was a “combative subject” and whose family says he suffered from a mental illness, was also killed by police in the incident. “She should not have to come outside, open the door and be shot down by a police officer”.

Watson said she and other academics, as well as advocacy groups, attempted to speak with Emanuel after he was elected about committing more resources to CIT. Police, and authorities all the way up to the USA justice department, need to reevaluate how officers who are armed with lethal weapons respond to situations.

The decision comes after activists stepped up calls for Emanuel’s resignation over his handling of policing in the nation’s third-largest city. She died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

The families of both victims demanded answers after the deaths, which were the first fatal shootings by Chicago police officers since last month’s release of a 2014 video of Laquan McDonald’s death put a national spotlight on the city.

Police said 55-year-old Bettie Jones was accidentally hit by gunfire.

Jones, a mother of five, shouldn’t have been shot, police say.

A Chicago police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said on Monday he did not know if there was video of the shooting.

The Rev. Marshall Hatch, the pastor at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, where Jones worshipped, told CNN on Monday that he suggested to the mayor there be “total and complete transparency” if Emanuel has hope of persuading some Chicagoans to trust police.

“I’ve never seen this kind of detachment in the years I’ve been fighting, whether I got along the mayor or not”, Sharpton said. A video released this month shows officers later entering Coleman’s jail cell, using a stun gun on him and then dragging him away.

On Saturday, Mr. Emanuel issued a statement saying “the public deserves answers”, and promising an IPRA investigation.

His family also said that Quintonio LeGrier had a history of mental problems.

In the past, officers involved in shootings were only on desk duty for three days.