Activists in Chicago are calling for the resignation of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown following the release of bodycam footage that shows an officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo, CBS Chicago reported.
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Adam Toledo Shooting
Protesters marched throughout the city Thursday after the city’s police oversight agency released footage of the fatal shooting on March 29 in the Little Village neighborhood. They criticized Lightfoot’s slow response to release information, including the officer’s name, throughout the week.
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Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, said the mayor needs to redirect funds away from the police department and back to the community.
“The police department has a $1.7 billion budget. They keep taking the money from our kids to give it over to the police department. We’re saying enough is enough. Today, we ask for justice for Adam, justice for all those individuals that are being killed by police officers,” Enriquez said Thursday. “It’s a shame that these police officers, instead of protecting us, are killing us. This is how they treat little village because we’re Mexican and because we’re Brown.”
Video of Chicago police fatally shooting 13-year old boy released
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Before the video’s release to the public, Lightfoot called on a change to the Chicago Police Department’s foot pursuit policies. “These videos and these moments are never easy to bear witness to,” Lightfoot said. “Adam’s death is a forceful reminder that we cannot delay these efforts any longer.”
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A resident lights a candle where 13-year-old Adam Toledo was shot by police in Chicago on April 16, 2021. / Credit: Shafkat Anowar / AP
But Enriquez isn’t convinced those reforms will be enough. “It is time to defund the police and it’s time to abolish the police,” Enriquez added. “Let’s begin from a fresh start. Let’s begin with our input. Let’s begin with our opinions.”
Protests will continue throughout the week. They also have plans to gather outside of Lightfoot’s home to make their message heard, CBS Chicago reported.
“They say we need more money for training,” said Reina Pienses, a Little Village resident. “And the thing is that they’re showing us that that training is for shooting and killing us. They trained to shoot and kill. That’s what we’re seeing here and we’re tired of that.”
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