College Student, Mother of 5 Killed by Chicago Cops; Families Demand Answers

By Megan Crepeau, Jeremy Gorner and Grace Wong, Chicago Tribune

27 December 15

 

olice responding to a call about a domestic disturbance shot and killed a 19-year-old engineering student and a 55-year-old mother of five, and authorities acknowledged late Saturday that the woman had been shot by accident.

The families of both victims demanded answers after the deaths, which were the first fatal shootings by Chicago police officers since last month's release of a 2014 video of Laquan McDonald's death put a national spotlight on the city.

The Police Department said its officers responded to a home in West Garfield Park around 4:30 a.m. and were “confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon, fatally wounding two individuals.”

The 19-year-old, Quintonio LeGrier, was carrying a baseball bat and threatening his father when police were called, according to police dispatch radio traffic. No gun was recovered at the scene, a police source said.

The woman who was killed, Bettie Jones, was a downstairs neighbor who had been asked by LeGrier's father to keep an eye out for the arrival of the police, according to both families.

In a statement, the police said: “The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends.”

The West Side tragedy was the first of two police shootings Saturday. In the second, on the Far South Side, officers said they responded to an “assault in progress” call in the 1000 block of West 103rd Place. Police said they encountered an armed man and shot him. The suspect was taken in serious to critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, officials said.

At the same time the police confirmed that the West Side woman was killed by accident, they also announced a major policy shift: All officers involved in shootings will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.

The new policy is a dramatic change from the current requirement that officers have to come off active duty for three days.

Even while acknowledging the woman's accidental shooting, police offered a scant narrative of what occurred at the two-flat in the 4700 block of West Erie Street. They did not say why the officer fired his weapon, whether the “combative subject” was armed at the time or whether the officers had a Taser.

Questions were referred to the Independent Police Review Authority, which confirmed only that the shooting had occurred.

IPRA head Sharon Fairley responded to both of Saturday's shootings, visiting a police detective area and the Far South Side scene. Fairley took over this month after the resignation of previous IPRA chief Scott Ando. Other fallout from the McDonald video has included charges against Officer Jason Van Dyke, the firing of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and the launching of a federal civil rights investigation, which Mayor Rahm Emanuel first opposed but later welcomed.

The Fraternal Order of Police did not comment on Saturday's shootings, a departure from years of on-the-scene statements from organization spokesman Pat Camden. The practice, quietly ended a few months ago, has come under intense scrutiny since the McDonald video release. After that shooting, Camden told the media that the teen had lunged at police. The video contradicted that report.

An Emanuel spokesman said the mayor was in Cuba on a family vacation but was in touch with aides in Chicago. Emanuel issued a statement Saturday night saying, “Anytime an officer uses force the public deserves answers, and regardless of the circumstances we all grieve anytime there is a loss of life in our city.”

A prayer vigil is planned Sunday afternoon at the scene of the West Side shooting, which left relatives outraged.

“I want this investigation to be thorough. I want answers,” said Bettie Jones' cousin Evelyn Glover Jennings. “Her blood is crying out from the grave saying, ‘Evelyn, avenge me.'”

While police said little about the shooting, relatives of the victims had plenty to say.

LeGrier had struggled with mental health issues in recent months, had become agitated and was carrying a metal bat in his father's upstairs apartment, relatives said.

“His father was scared because that's not his character,” said LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, 49, who was not present at the time of the shooting.

LeGrier's father told his neighbor Jones downstairs not to approach his son while watching for police, family members said.

Responding officers were told by a dispatcher that a “male caller said someone is threatening his life. It's also coming in as a domestic. The 19-year-old son is banging on his bedroom door with a baseball bat.”

A relative of the teen said it appears LeGrier came to the front door as officers from the Harrison District pulled up. Jones' relatives believe she was behind LeGrier, near the entrance to her apartment.

Latisha Jones, 19, said she woke to gunfire and found her mother on the floor of her apartment with a gunshot wound to the neck. “She wasn't saying anything,” the daughter said. “I had to keep checking for a pulse.”

The Police Department did not say where the victims were standing when they were shot, but blood could be seen in the small vestibule and just inside Jones' apartment. At least one bullet appeared to have traveled through Jones' apartment, hitting at least two walls.

LeGrier's mother said the family was told her son was shot seven times.

“Seven times he was shot,” Cooksey said. “He didn't have a gun. He had a bat. One or two times would have brought him down.

“You call the police, you try to get help and you lose a loved one,” she said. “What are they trained for? Just to kill? I thought that we were supposed to get service and protection. I mean, my son was an honor student. He's here for Christmas break, and now I've lost him.”

She directed her anger at the mayor. “Emanuel, I want a personal apology for my son's life,” Cooksey said. “I don't want you to get on the news and say you're so … I want a personal apology.”

The NIU website shows LeGrier enrolled as a freshman in fall 2014 with an electrical engineering major. He graduated from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep high school on the Far South Side.

“My son was going somewhere,” his mother said. “He wasn't just a thug on the street.”

Antonio LeGrier, the student's father, said his son had “emotional issues.” He believes the officer “messed up” and shot recklessly. “I don't feel that his life was worth losing because he got upset,” the father said.

A police source said investigators were waiting for the autopsy to determine how many times LeGrier was shot. The source also said investigators were looking into whether responding officers knew they were dealing with someone with mental health issues and whether anyone on the scene was equipped with a Taser.

Relatives of Bettie Jones said they, too, had questions.

“Right now there's a whole lot of anger, a whole lot of tears,” said her brother Melvin Jones.

Jones lived in the first-floor apartment with her boyfriend, he said. She was the mother of four daughters and a son, her brother said.

Melvin Jones said he and about 15 other relatives were at the apartment Friday to celebrate Christmas with food and card games. “She had an excellent Christmas. Family was over,” Melvin Jones said. “And then to wake up to this.”

Robin Andrews, Bettie Jones' youngest brother, said Jones had been battling ovarian cancer for several years and had recently taken time off from her job at a bakery to recuperate.

“She was already sick,” he said through tears. “She was already fighting for her life.”