Federal Bureau of Investigation asked to investigate Chicago police shooting of two

The AP, which filed open-records requests, said that thousands of emails were released regarding the case of McDonald, the black 17-year-old shot by a white police officer, including messages indicating Emanuel’s advisers recognized within months the case’s political ramifications.

The release of the video set off weeks of demonstrations and forced the resignation of Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

Policing scandals have fueled demands that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel resign.

Van Dyke, who has been charged with first-degree murder, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The city eventually reached a $5 million settlement, a deal approved by the City Council shortly after Emanuel won a second term. “This case will undoubtedly bring a microscope of national attention to the shooting”, one of the family attorneys, Jeffery Neslund, said in a letter emailed to the city’s law department on March 6. McDonald, who was carrying a folded 3-inch knife, is seen veering away from officer Jason Van Dyke in the video before the officer starts firing.

On Wednesday, Emanuel announced a series of police training reforms that will see an increase in the number of tasers provided to police officers in the city.

The Chicago PD is also the subject of a to examine the department’s use of force, racial and ethnic disparities in enforcement, and accountability mechanisms, including disciplinary proceedings and investigations of misconduct.

Emanuel noted that on audio recordings of communications between dispatchers and officers on the scene the night of McDonald’s shooting, several officers can be heard “frantically” asking for a stun gun before the shooting.

The activists remain outraged over the Emanuel administration’s handling of the police killing of Laquan McDonald.

“As you might imagine, the timing and details discussed in the Sun-Times article and growing interest in the McDonald incident has not worked in our favor, and is helping to ‘stir the pot, ‘” Emanuel aide Vance Henry wrote.

The top prosecutor also stressed that her office “does not control the pace or process of IPRA” and that the investigative agency needs “to get it right so that justice can be served”.

Chicago has been gripped by protests in recent months following a string of fatal shootings by police officers, the most recent of which took place on December 26 when a Chicago police officer shot and killed 19-year-old student Quintonio LeGrier and 55-year-old Bettie Jones, a mother of five.