Chicago police kill two, injure one in two more shootings.
December 26, 2015 6:36 PM Subscribe
Chicago police officers shot and killed two and severely injured one in two separate incidents today. Today's deaths add another two to the data published today by the Washington Post on fatal police shootings in 2015, bringing the national total from 965 as of Christmas eve to at least 967 today.
In the first incident, police were responding to a 911 domestic disturbance call from a man reporting that his 19-year-old son, Quintonio Legrier, a Northern Illinois University engineering student who had suffered from mental illness, was waving a baseball bat and acting erratically. Legrier's father, who had locked himself in the bedroom of his second-floor unit, then asked his 55-year-old downstairs tenant, Bettie Jones, to let the police in when they arrived. When the officers appeared on the scene, they shot and killed both Jones (who was unarmed and in her nightgown) and Legrier. Families of the victims report that Jones was shot three times (possibly through the door as she went to answer it), and Legrier was shot seven times. [More links: police dispatch audio; a terse & perfunctory CPD statement.]
Later in the day, Chicago police and SWAT officers swarmed a block in response to reports of a fight and shot a man five times, sending 23-year-old Mekel Lumpkin to the hospital in critical condition.
Meanwhile, the mother of Terrance Gilbert, a 25-year-old man who was shot to death on Christmas Day last year, has sued the city of Chicago and the police officers involved. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Independent Police Review Authority (IRPA, whose job it is to police the police), "was investigating the shooting, but its website lists no results of an investigation" a year later. The IPRA also declined to comment on any of today's officer-involved shootings.
The incidents occurred scarcely a month after the Chicago police drew national attention over the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald and amidst increased scrutiny of the CPD.
In the first incident, police were responding to a 911 domestic disturbance call from a man reporting that his 19-year-old son, Quintonio Legrier, a Northern Illinois University engineering student who had suffered from mental illness, was waving a baseball bat and acting erratically. Legrier's father, who had locked himself in the bedroom of his second-floor unit, then asked his 55-year-old downstairs tenant, Bettie Jones, to let the police in when they arrived. When the officers appeared on the scene, they shot and killed both Jones (who was unarmed and in her nightgown) and Legrier. Families of the victims report that Jones was shot three times (possibly through the door as she went to answer it), and Legrier was shot seven times. [More links: police dispatch audio; a terse & perfunctory CPD statement.]
Later in the day, Chicago police and SWAT officers swarmed a block in response to reports of a fight and shot a man five times, sending 23-year-old Mekel Lumpkin to the hospital in critical condition.
Meanwhile, the mother of Terrance Gilbert, a 25-year-old man who was shot to death on Christmas Day last year, has sued the city of Chicago and the police officers involved. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Independent Police Review Authority (IRPA, whose job it is to police the police), "was investigating the shooting, but its website lists no results of an investigation" a year later. The IPRA also declined to comment on any of today's officer-involved shootings.
The incidents occurred scarcely a month after the Chicago police drew national attention over the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald and amidst increased scrutiny of the CPD.
This post was deleted for the following reason: These are some shitty things for sure and I appreciate that you put some serious effort into constructing this, but we have multiple threads open right now about police and gun violence and I don't think it's gonna be a great idea to have essentially a monthly CPD crappiness omnibus thread on the front page. -- cortex
What the fucking fuck?
posted by glaucon at 6:40 PM on December 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by glaucon at 6:40 PM on December 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Goddamnit, Chicago. I was just there for Christmas, and things seemed to go pretty well at the Michigan Avenue protest [autoplaying video]. How the fuck... goddamnit.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:48 PM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:48 PM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
When the officers appeared on the scene, they shot and killed both Jones (who was unarmed and in her nightgown) and Legrier.
Emphasized for outrage. Dear god, the woman was 55 and was only called into the situation to call the police. I guess that was her mistake.
The day after Christmas, too.
posted by JHarris at 6:51 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Emphasized for outrage. Dear god, the woman was 55 and was only called into the situation to call the police. I guess that was her mistake.
The day after Christmas, too.
posted by JHarris at 6:51 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Glaucon literally said, word for word, what I was going to say, so I will just add that my 65-year-old, white, suburban, Beemer-driving, Republican mother said, watching the news, "You know, my big fear isn't that I'll get a ticket anymore when the CPD pulls me over, but that they'll shoot me to death before I even roll down the window."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:52 PM on December 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:52 PM on December 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
The police apparently decided that if the public was terrorized enough, we'd be easier to control. At this point they should worry that the opposite is true.
posted by elwoodwiles at 6:58 PM on December 26, 2015
posted by elwoodwiles at 6:58 PM on December 26, 2015
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posted by reedcourtneyj at 6:40 PM on December 26, 2015