ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO â A young man who was with a 13-year-old boy fatally shot by a Chicago police officer last month fired the rounds that drew the officer s attention, prosecutors said Saturday.
Ruben Roman, 21, is seen on video firing the weapon that brought police to the Little Village neighborhood on the night of March 29. He and 13-year-old Adam Toledo fled the scene together, with officers in pursuit, prosecutors said.
Roman was arrested as another officer chased Toledo, who was holding a gun when the officer shot him, prosecutors said. That gun matched the spent cartridge casings that were found in the area where Roman was firing, prosecutors said.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Adam Toledo’s mother did not attend a vigil for her 13-year-old son Monday evening because she didn’t feel up to it, but she sent a statement that was read to about 150 people holding white balloons.
“He had a big imagination and curiosity since he was a little baby. He was goofy and always cracking jokes, making everyone laugh. He loved animals and riding his bike,” Elizabeth Toledo said in the statement.
“Adam was really into zombies. And the zombie apocalypse. He even had this zombie apocalypse bag packed and ready to go. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows were “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Ghostbusters,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Toy Story,” “Cars,” “The Walking Dead,” she said.
Chicago police shot and killed a 13-year-old boy in what officials described as an “armed confrontation” in Little Village on March 29.
Authorities said police body camera recordings and other videos that captured an officer shooting Adam Toledo would be released “as soon as possible,” although they did not say when the footage would be made available. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD Supt. David Brown are among those who have asked for the release of the video.
The Cook County medical examiner said Toledo was shot in the chest in an alley west of the 2300 block of South Sawyer Avenue near Farragut Career Academy High School.
Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times
Chicago police leaders have issued an “officer safety alert” to cops warning that the department’s narcotics unit has learned that factions of the Latin Kings in the Ogden patrol district on the Southwest Side “were instructed by ranking members to shoot at unmarked Chicago police vehicles.”
The alert, sent out Thursday, said factions of the gang planned to retaliate following the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo at about 2 a.m. March 29 in an alley in the 2400 block of South Sawyer Avenue.
The alert warned that members of the gang were likely to shoot at unmarked Chicago police vehicles but didn’t say why the Kings would be retaliating.
13-year-old boy killed by Chicago police wsws.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsws.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.