Yet another Chicago police officer has shot and killed a 19-year-old black teen he says twice pointed a gun at him, but so far, no weapon has been found.
Suggested Reading
Nineteen-year-old Kajuan Raye was described as his family as a “fun-loving and happy kid who had a bright future.” On Wednesday, police say, a sergeant was called to an intersection near a park on the city’s South Side in response to a report of a “battery in progress.”
The sergeant approached Raye, whom he described as fitting the description of the suspect. Raye ran, and the sergeant gave chase. “The sergeant then told investigators that the offender turned and pointed a weapon in the direction of the sergeant on two separate occasions during the pursuit,” Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.
Video taken by two surveillance cameras outside a church shows Raye running and the officer chasing him out of the cameras’ view, yet the footage does not show the gunfire where Raye was shot and killed.
Police have not released the sergeant’s name. He will be taken off patrol and placed on administrative duties for at least 30 days, as is routine for officers involved in a shooting that is being reviewed.
“We were not able to locate a weapon [of Raye’s] as of yet,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “There’s still many unanswered questions, and we are working diligently to find those answers.”
CNN reports that Raye’s family is “heartbroken that their son is dead at the hands of a police officer who does not value the sanctity of life of black males,” the statement reads. “As a city we continue to struggle with police who are afraid of and have deep seeded prejudices against black youth.”
A lawyer with the firm Raye’s family retained told CNN the claim that Raye pointed a weapon is absurd, given that police haven’t found one after what Johnson said was a grid search of the area.
Attorney Jay Payne said Raye was waiting with a cousin for a bus when the officer approached him, nothing more. “We will be asking the Cook County state’s attorney to prosecute this officer,” Payne said.
In April a report from the Police Accountability Task Force created by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the death of Laquan McDonald, another black teen by police, noted that Chicago police “have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color” and have alienated blacks and Hispanics with the use of force and a long-standing code of silence.
During the past eight years, 74 percent of people killed or injured by Chicago police officers were African-American, the report said.
Read more at CNN.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.