Janet Cooksey, the mother of Quintonio LeGrier, holds up and reads from a birthday card he sent her during his funeral service at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago. LeGrier, 19, was shot six times and killed by a Chicago police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call on Dec. 26, 2015. Police at the same time fatally shot a neighbor, Bettie Jones, 55, three times killing her. Police later announced that the shooting of Jones was an accident. EPA/TANNEN MAURY ORG XMIT: THM14(Photo: TANNEN MAURY /EPA)
CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer fatally shot a 19-year-old six times and wounded his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>neighbor once in a controversial Christmas weekend shooting that has triggered widespread outrage in the city, according to medical examiner reports released Thursday.
The Dec. 26 shooting deaths by police of Bettie Jones, 55, and Quintonio LeGrier, 19, added to the mounting tension<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in a city that was already<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reeling in the aftermath of the release of a police video in late November<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that showed a white officer, Jason Van Dyke fatally shoot a black teen, Laquan McDonald, 16 times.
Within hours of the incident, police acknowledged that Jones<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was "accidentally" killed by the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>officer who was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>responding to a disturbance involving her neighbor<span style="color: Red;">*</span>LeGrier.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Authorities say LeGrier was wielding a baseball bat and was "combative" when officers arrived at the scene.
The officer, who has been identified by the
Chicago Sun-Times and
Chicago Tribune as Robert Rialmo,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>opened fire, killing them both.
The newly-released autopsy reports show that LeGrier was shot in the chest, back, right buttock, left arm, and grazed on his left side and right shoulder.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Jones was struck in the chest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>once.
USA TODAY
Videos show teen running from Chicago cops when he's shot
The report also revealed that LeGrier had marijuana in his system at the time of his death.
LeGrier's father, Antonio LeGrier,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>called police and then called his downstairs tenant Jones and asked her if she would let police into the building when they arrived. Jones agreed, but against the wishes of a friend who was with her in her apartment, according to the report.
When police arrive, the report said Jones pointed police upstairs to guide the officers to the right location.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>At that point, LeGrier<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was coming down the stairs and heading toward Jones.
"Jones motioned to step back into her apartment; at which time, police fired shots in an attempt to stop Quintonio," the report said.
Follow USA TODAY Chicago correspondent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Aamer Madhani on Twitter:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@AamerISmad
Powered By WizardRSS.com |
Full Text RSS Feed
