Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Chicago in rage of the graphic video footage that was revealed, showing the police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old African-American teen.
The rage was due to the fact that the video footage conflicted with initial police reports in 2014 whereby police officer Van Dyke explained that he open fired because he feared for his life after Laquan “lunged at police” before; however this footage clearly states otherwise. It portrays Laquan slow down from running to walking as he became surrounded by police cars, though the boy is unarmed, officers then get out immediately with their guns drawn which forces Laquan to collapse on the floor after being shot 16 times.
Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first degree murder for killing the young boy.
Mayor Emanuel said in a statement “It’s fine to be passionate, but it is essential that it remain peaceful.” Though it is understandable why it is very hard to remain peaceful due to another brutal killing of a young black child following so many before him. The continuous grieving of young black men should not be normality.
