Chicago’s Lightfoot appeals for calm, says, ‘We failed Adam’

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot addressed the city on Thursday after its police review board released the video of the officer-involved fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and made an appeal for calm. 

"Even as our understanding of this incident continues to evolve, this remains a complicated and nuanced story," she said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "We all must proceed with deep empathy and calm and importantly, peace."

She held an emotional press conference at City Hall and said, "Simply put, we failed Adam."

The shooting occurred in the city’s West Side on March 29 at around 2:30 a.m. and Toledo died from a gunshot wound to his chest, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. The city is bracing for the possibility of unrest because the video showed the teen with his hands raised before the shooting. 

Adeena J. Weiss-Ortiz, the attorney for the Toledo family, said the video speaks for itself. 

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"Adam, during his last wind of life, did not have a gun in his hands after the officer screamed at him, ‘show me your hands.’ Adam complied, turned around, his hands were empty when the officer shot him."

The video’s release comes at a tense time in the county’s history with police and community relations. The Derek Chauvin murder trial is coming to an end and violent protests have broken out in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, after the police-involved shooting death of Daunte Wright, who was 20.

Fox 32 Chicago reported that Lightfoot watched the video and said it was "excruciating." She had pushed for the video to be released in the name of transparency.

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"I want to be respectful of family, but I do also think a police-involved shooting, particularly under these circumstances, it’s important for us to be transparent."