Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki says fatal shooting of Adam Toledo, 13, is a 'reminder' that cops use 'unnecessary force too often' - despite fact the teenager had just dropped a gun
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the video of 13-year-old Adam Toledo getting shot by a Chicago police office 'chilling' during Friday's press briefing.
Psaki said she hadn't spoken to President Joe Biden before the morning briefing, so didn't know if he'd watched it, but said it served as a 'reminder' that 'too often in this country law enforcement uses unnecessary force, too often resulting in the death of black and brown Americans.'
She said the shooting was unnecessary after Chicago cops released bodycam footage showing the boy had a gun and dropped it just before the officer opened fire.
Photos also show a weapon recovered from the scene.
Eric Stillman, 34, was identified as the officer who fired the fatal shot at Toldeo. He is five-year veteran who had never used deadly force prior to the boy's shooting and had no history of disciplinary issues
Psaki reiterated Biden's support for the House-passed police reform bill, George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is currently stuck in the U.S. Senate.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the video of 13-year-old Adam Toledo getting shot by a Chicago police officer was 'chilling'
'The president, again, has repeatedly said that he believes we need police reform,' she told reporters. 'That's what he says he's calling for Congress to send to his desk.'
Psaki also said the White House was also waiting to see how the independent investigation of Toledo's shooting would play out.
In the bodycam video, which sparked protests in Chicago overnight, Toledo appears to drop a handgun and begins raising his hands less than a second before Stillman fires a single shot that strikes Toledo in the upper chest.
Stillman was identified as the shooter on Thursday.
The Chicago Police Department typically doesn't release the names of officers involved in such shootings this early on in an investigation, but Stillman's badge number, name, age race were listed in the investigation reports released on Thursday.
Stillman is then seen frantically performing chest compressions on Toledo for nearly two minutes in an effort to save him.
As another officer takes over from him, a visibly upset Stillman is seen sitting on the ground against a fence and being comforted by cops on the scene.
Stillman's lawyer, Tom Grace, said in a statement to the Daily Beast that he was faced with a deadly situation, and the officer had seen the teenager swing a gun in his direction.
'The juvenile offender had the gun in his right hand ... looked at the officer which could be interpreted as attempting to acquire a target and began to turn to face the officer attempting to swing the gun in his direction,' Grace wrote.
'At this point the officer was faced with a life threatening and deadly force situation. All prior attempts to deescalate and gain compliance with all of the officer's lawful orders had failed.'
Chicago police officer Eric Stillman, 34, has been identified as the cop who shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29
Stillman is seen in body camera video frantically performing CPR on Toledo after shooting him once in the chest
A visibly upset Stillman is seen sitting on the ground and being comforted by his colleagues following the fatal shooting on March 29
Grace added that there was 'very little interest' in Stillman's wellbeing in the wake of the shooting.
'The officer involved has served his country and his city with honor and deserves our support,' he said.
Stillman joined the police department in 2015 and served as a patrol officer assigned to the Ogden District on the city's West Side.
In the five years leading up to the incident on March 29, Stillman has never shot anyone in the line of duty.
Records indicate that he also had nine 'use of force' reports, which officers themselves file if they have to resort to any kind of force in the line of duty. Only one of the reports involved a weapon, which was a baton.
Stillman received a Military Service Award from the Police Department and the Superintendent's Award of Valor, according to the Citizens Police Data Project.
Stillman was placed on administrative leave after the shooting.
The president of the Chicago Police Union, John Catanzara, told Chris Cuomo's Prime Time on CNN that an 'officer does not have to wait to be shot at or shot to respond and be able to defend himself.'
Catanzara added that Stillman 'would have been justified to shoot multiple times.'
'The officer did everything he possibly could to the letter of the law and the guidelines of the Chicago Police Department,' he said.
Toledo was carrying a gun in the moments before he was shot, and bodycam footage shows him throwing it behind a fence before turning to face Stillman
In the bodycam footage, Stillman is heard yelling: 'Stop right f***ing now!' Show me your f***ing hands! Drop it'. When Toledo turns around to face the officer, he appears to raise his hands.
A moment later, a single shot rings out and the teen collapses to the ground. Stillman is then heard radioing 'shot fired' as he lays Toledo flat on his back and begins frantically looking for the wound. He is heard saying: 'Stay with me, stay with me'
Despite efforts to revive Toledo, as seen in the body camera video the teen died from his injury
The Chicago Police Department released a photo of the gun that was recovered from the scene after one of its officers shot and killed Adam Toledo last Monday
A still frame taken from Stillman's jumpy nighttime body camera footage shows that Toledo wasn't holding anything and had his hands up when Stillman shot him before 3am on March 29.
Toledo passed away after suffering a single gunshot wound to the upper chest
Police, who were responding to reports of shots fired in the area, say the boy had a handgun on him before the shooting. And Stillman's footage shows him shining a light on a handgun on the ground near Toledo after he shot him.
Earlier footage also appears to show the boy was carrying a gun in the moments before he was shot, throwing it behind a fence before turning to face the cop.
In the wake of the bodycam footage being released, small groups of protesters gathered at a police station and marched downtown Thursday night, but there were few signs of widespread demonstrations in the city.
An attorney for Toledo's family said Thursday: 'It could be a gun, I'm not going to deny that but it's not relevant, because if he had a gun, he tossed it.'
The video's release has left Chicago on a knife edge Thursday with police on high alert that the Latin Kings gang could retaliate for the shooting which took place in their neighborhood of Little Village.
Some businesses in downtown Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile' shopping district boarded up their windows in anticipation of protests turning violent. Mayor Lori Lightfoot called on the public to keep the peace.
The release of the footage comes at a sensitive time, with the ongoing trial in Minneapolis of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd and the recent police killing of another black man, Daunte Wright.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an independent board that investigates Chicago police shootings, released the graphic footage Thursday after allowing Toledo's family to view it privately on Tuesday.
Police had said they responded before dawn on the morning of the shooting after police technology detected gun shots there.
The teen, who was Latino, and a 21-year-old, named as Ruben Roman Jr, fled on foot when confronted by police, and an officer shot the teen once in the chest following a foot chase during what the department described as an armed confrontation.
Roman Jr was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
The footage shows that it took 19 seconds from which Stillman exited his squad car to when he shot the teen.
After getting out of the vehicle, the officer chases Toledo on foot down an alley for several seconds.
'Stop right f***ing now!' the officer yells at the fleeing teen. 'Show me your f***ing hands! Drop it'
When Toledo turns around to face the officer, he appears to raise his hands. A moment later, a single shot rings out and the teen collapses to the ground, with blood gushing from his mouth.
The officer radios in 'shot fired,' lays Toledo flat on his back and begins frantically looking for the wound. 'Stay with me, stay with me,' he implores the mortally wounded Toledo.
Another officer rushes over with a medical kit and the two begin administering CPR. 'I'm not feeling a heartbeat,' the officer says.
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