Chicago pigs ? again.. 2 People Killed After Officers Respond To Domestic Disturbance...

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-shooting-20151226-story.html
Chicago police fatally shoot 2 while answering domestic call on West Side

Chicago police shot and killed a man and a woman as officers responded to a domestic disturbance at a West Garfield Park home early Saturday, according to police and relatives of the victims.

A police statement contained no other details, but a source said the man — a 19-year-old Northern Illinois University student — was carrying a bat and threatening his father when police were called. No gun was recovered at the scene.

The 55-year-old woman, Bettie Jones, who was killed was a downstairs neighbor and had been asked by the 19-year-old's father to keep an eye out for the arrival of the police, according to the man's family.

The deaths marked the city’s first fatal police shooting since the Nov. 24 release of dash-cam video of the killing of Laquan McDonald put a national spotlight on Chicago officers’ use of lethal force.

Relatives said the NIU student killed Saturday, Quintonio LeGrier, was studying engineering but recently was struggling with mental issues.
“I was praying with him because he wasn’t acting like himself,” said LeGrier’s great-aunt, Betty Turner, 56.

The neighbor, Jones, was a mother of five who lived on the first floor of the two-flat where the shooting occurred. LeGrier's father lives on the second floor.

Latisha Jones said she woke to gunfire and found her mother with a gunshot wound to the neck. “She wasn’t saying anything,” Jones said. “I had to keep checking for a pulse."

Relatives said police were called to the home by LeGrier's father because his son was agitated and carrying a metal bat, family members said.

“His father was scared because that’s not his character,” said LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, 49, who was not present at the time of the shooting.

LeGrier’s father told Jones downstairs not to approach his son and to keep an eye out for police.


Responding officers were told by a dispatcher that a "male caller said someone is threatening his life. It's also coming in as a domestic. The 19-year-old son is banging on his bedroom door with a baseball bat."

Officers from District 11 arrived at the home about 4:25 a.m.

The officers "were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon, fatally wounding two individuals," the police statement said.

The statement had no specifics, but the shooting appeared to have happened as LeGrier came out the front door, according to a relative of the teen. Evidence markers were placed on the sidewalk leading to the porch.

It was not clear how Jones was shot. Her daughter said she found her mother on the floor of her apartment. She said she put her hand up to her mother’s face and she was still breathing. Jones was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

While Latisha Jones was talking to a reporter, a car drove up to the intersection and a woman stepped outside. “Police shot my mama!” she yelled, crying and swearing.

LeGrier's mother was critical of how police handled the situation. She said the family has been told her son was shot seven times.

"He's gone, he's gone. Seven times he was shot," Cooksey said. "He didn't have a gun. He had a bat. One or two times would have brought him down.

“You call the police, you try to get help and you lose a loved one," she said. "What are they trained for? Just to ? ? I thought that we were supposed to get service and protection. I mean, my son was an honors student. He's here for Christmas break, and now I've lost him.

"I'm trying to be strong because I pray. But that's my only child. And I'm hurting. I'm hurting real bad," she said.

She directed her anger at Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been under fire since the video was released last month showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting the 17-year-old McDonald, firing 16 times.

"Are we gonna get protected or is the police just gonna keep taking lives?" Cooksey said. "I mean, whose gonna answer these questions? Emanuel, I want a personal apology for my son's life. I don't want you to get on the news and say you're so ... I want a personal apology."

Cooksey acknowledged that her son "had mental issues" but insisted they were no cause for how police reacted.

"They did tell me he was shot seven times. That's a bit much. That's a bit much," she said. "I don't take all of that. My son only weighed about 150 pounds. ... Why do you have to be shot that many times? Why? If the police is trained in the field, then how, they're just handling the situation by killing people?"


A police source said investigators were waiting for the autopsy to determine how many times LeGrier was shot.

The source also said investigators were looking into whether responding officers knew they were dealing with someone with mental issues and whether anyone on the scene was equipped with a Taser.

Relatives of Bettie Jones said they, too, have "so many questions and no answers."

"I'm numb right now," said her brother, Melvin Jones. "Right now there's a whole lot of anger, a whole lot of tears.

Jones lived in the first-floor apartment with her boyfriend, he said. She was the mother of four daughters and a son, her brother said. The daughters are 38, 33, and 19-year old twins. The son is 30.

Melvin Jones said he and about 15 other relatives were at the apartment Friday to celebrate Christmas with food, family and card games.

"She had an excellent Christmas. Family was over," Melvin Jones said. "And then to wake up to this.

"You see it on the news and think that something needs to be done," Melvin Jones said, referring to recent shootings by Chicago police. "It really hits you and it just leaves you numb.

"I don't have time to feel," he added. "I have a funeral to prepare."

SMH...
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