One year after firing 16 shots into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with murder.
The shooting happened back in October of 2014. Officer reports stated that McDonald, who had PCP in his system, was wielding a knife and disregarded commands to put it down. Officer Van Dyke, who has been on desk-duty since the incident, says that he feared for his life and had no other choice than to shoot McDonald. Reports show that no other officers on the scene fired a shot.
Family members of McDonald have opposed this story, saying that dash cam footage shows Dyke firing his weapon within seconds of exiting his car. The family states that Dyke continued to fire several rounds into McDonald once he was on the ground in a “fetal-like” position.
The decision comes just one day before footage of the shooting is mandated to be released to the public. Protestors have been calling for the release of the video for nearly a year, and now following a journalists lawsuit a judge has given the police department until Wednesday to publicize the video.
The Mayor of Chicago has called on city activists to help maintain the peace, as the city prepares for the footage to be released.
