Chicago Tempers Boiling After Another Police Shooting

Early Saturday morning Chicago police shot and killed two people after responding to a domestic disturbance call.

According to NBC, Quintonio Legrier, a student at Northern Illinois University was fatally shot by police, after the authorities responded to a call from Legrier’s father. Legerier’s family said they called the police  after Legrier had threatened to hit his father with a baseball bat.

However the mother of Legrier, Janet Cookery said her son had suffered from mental illness and:

“He was having a mental situation. Sometimes he will get loud, but not violent,”

Apparently, police shootings of people suffering from a mental illness are quite the common occurrence, if this was the case. A Washington Post investigation, found during the first six months of 2015, police have shot and killed 124 people that were:

“in the throes of mental or emotional crisis”

This accounted for nearly one-quarter of all police shootings in the first half of the year.

Also, people around the victims have often found themselves in danger as well. On Monday, a Georgia man who was attempting to help his distressed son was fatally shot by police.

Also, going back to Chicago the second victim was Bettie Jones, a mother of five who lived in the same apartment building as Legrier and his father. Witnesses have said Bettie Jones was shot in the neck shortly after opening the door for police and that Jones’ daughter found her mother on the ground after being woke up by three gunshots.

Even weirder, according to Jones’ daughter:

“She wasn’t saying anything,”

The Chicago police are already in a pressure cooker after the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke. The police shooting along with subsequent burial of video evidence that discredited the official police story, sparked weeks of protests throughout the city. Even going so far as protesters blocking the entrances to stores on Thursday as they demanded accountability from city leaders.

Earlier this December, the city’s police superintendent was fired after he mishandled the shooting, but protesters have now demanded Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) should also resign. Some emails have suggested that the mayor’s office had been aware of the video evidence during his re-election campaign earlier this year. Protestor’s wish may be granted as a state representative has introduced a bill to recall Emanuel and The Department of Justice also recently announced a formal investigation of the department.

This shooting has most definitely shown that the Chicago Police and city officials are under the microscope as the answers become more sparse. It would not be surprising if we see some real changes coming to Chicago very soon.

Image Courtesy of Daniel X. O’Neil via a Creative Commons License