Shootings last month where Chicago police officers discharged their weapons, striking the offenders, pushes the total of police-involved shooting incidents for the first 11 months of the year past the total number for 2006.
Shootings last month where Chicago police officers discharged their weapons, striking the offenders, pushes the total of police-involved shooting incidents for the first 11 months of the year past the total number for 2006.
From January 1-November 30 this year, there have been 47 police-involved shootings, 21 fatal, according to Mark Payne, spokesperson for the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates all police-involved shootings and reported incidents of misconduct by the department. The most recent shooting was Nov. 30 on the Far South Side.
According to police, officers “were confronted by an armed offender” and an officer fired his weapon, striking the offender, who has been identified as 17-year-old Roy Young.
Young, of the South Shore neighborhood, has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting at police during the incident in the 600 block of East 131st Street.
About a week prior, police fatally shot a man during a domestic dispute call.
Police arrived at a home in the 6800 block of South Langley Avenue to quell a disturbance between two men and a woman. When Sterling Oliver, who lived about a block away, allegedly refused to put down his gun, an officer fatally shot Oliver.
In the first half of November, two men were shot, one fatally, in less than 24 hours in separate police-involved shootings.
An armed man confronted officers in the 4400 block of South King Drive. An officer discharged his weapon and fatally shot Ahmad Hicks of the Woodlawn community. Nearly five hours later in the Englewood community, police shot a man near 65th and Wood Streets.
Payne said a weapon was recovered in each incident, and the shootings are under investigation by IPRA.
In 2006, Chicago police tallied 44 police-involved shootings–17 fatal. In 2007, there were 39 police-involved shootings-eight fatal.
“The climate of violence that our youth and communities are confronted with on a daily basis underscores the need for police protection. Any loss of life is a tragedy, but police have an unparalled responsibility to protect every community and themselves,” Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis recently told the Defender.
Chicago’s numbers are similar to the Los Angeles Police Department’s.
This year, from January 1-December 1, there were 31 police-involved shootings–21 fatal, according to a spokesperson for LAPD. For 2007, there were 33 police-involved shootings–19 fatal.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. had 31 police-involved shootings-eight fatal in 2007, according to its 2007 Annual Report. Statistics for this year were not available at Defender press time.
A spokesperson for the National Black Police Association was surprised at the high total of police-involved shootings earlier this year in Chicago and expressed concern then about the police’s relationship with the community.
“Police are not going to get anywhere with that, in terms of endearing themselves with the community,” Ron Hampton, executive director of the NBPA and a retired D.C. police officer, previously told the Defender.
Kathy Chaney can be reached via e-mail at kchaney@chicagodefender.com.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
