It was Christmas Eve in Chicago: unusually and eerily warm for December and a full moon was out — the first such full moon on Christmas in 30 years. My friend was going to stop by for a visit after attending midnight mass, but after dropping his own college aged son off to visit with friends, he told me that he changed his mind and went straight home after noticing something just as eerie: he past by 4 different CPD squad cars with cops riding 4 to a car.
And it’s not even New Year’s Eve. Yet.
Later on in the early morning hours of the day after Christmas, a father calls 911 to request assistance with his 19 year old college freshman son who was having some sort of mental crisis and swinging a baseball bat about. He calls his tenant downstairs, 55 year old Bettie Jones and instructed her not to approach her son or open her door, unless the police arrives. Antonio LeGrier had locked himself in a room because his son was trying to get at him with the bat. LeGrier tells the media what happened:
The father of a 19-year-old killed by a Chicago police officer says he had invited his son to a holiday gathering before the shooting but he chose not to go.
Antonio LeGrier tells the Chicago Sun-Times when he returned to his apartment early Saturday, his son Quintonio LeGrier appeared to be a "little agitated." He says he heard loud banging on his locked bedroom door around 4:15 a.m. and that his son tried to bust the door open.
He says he kept the son from breaking the door down and called police.
LeGrier says he called his downstairs neighbor, 55-year-old Bettie Jones, and warned her about his son and not to open the door unless police arrived. He says Jones told him she saw Quintonio outside with a baseball bat.
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When police arrived, Antonio LeGrier said he heard Jones yell, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He said he heard gunshots as he made his way down from the second floor and saw his son and Jones lying in the foyer.
“I identified myself as the father and I held my hands out,” he said.
The elder LeGrier noted that his son had some emotional issues stemming from his time spent in foster care at an early age, but that he was a ‘whiz kid’ who loved mathematics. LeGrier also noted that he had taken his son to the hospital in November where he was given medication. Quintonio was studying engineering at Northern Illinois University and graduated with honors from Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy in Chicago. He also ran in the 2013 Chicago Marathon in an effort to raise money for clean water in Africa.
Bettie Jones was a mother of five and a grandmother recently home from receiving cancer treatments. Her daughter was awoken by gunshots and found her mother lying in the foyer of the building with a gunshot wound to the neck.
The Chicago Police Department later issued this stunning statement about the shooting and Jones’ death:
“In reference to the incident that occurred in the 4700 block of W. Erie Street, 11th District (Harrison) officers responded to a domestic disturbance at a residence. Upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon which fatally wounded two individuals. 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…”
Later the Mayor issued a statement:
In the statement on the early morning shooting issued late Saturday by the mayor, [Rahm] Emanuel says that "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."
‘Regardless of the circumstances’. The CPD shows up on what they knew was a domestic disturbance call and very shortly upon arrival, they not only manage not to defuse the situation by subduing LeGrier in a non-lethal manner, they also manage to kill someone who had nothing to do with the situation except to be a tenant living on the first floor and opening the door for police.
What the hell. In addition to cops who are seemingly conditioned not to help preserve of lives of African Americans, they also help to clearly illustrate the argument gun rights activists make with respect to folk carrying — whether it’s open or concealed — weapons using them in an active shooter situation.
Talk about Gun FAIL. If trained police officers recklessly shoots at will without any assessment made on the people they encounter, how the hell is the average untrained Joe Blow supposed to do any better?
The Chicago Police Department has already owned up to the fact that Jones’ shooting was ‘an accident’. Well, what about LeGrier’s? Or does ‘combative’ automatically warrants a death sentence? Or is there an on-going ASSumption that black folk can’t possibly have mental issues?
What about Mikel Lumpkin, 26 who was shot and critically wounded by the CPD just 12 hours later in another domestic disturbance call? Lumpkins was reportedly having an altercation with his brother when police arrived at the Far Southside home:
According to Chicago Fire Department Media information, the shooting occurred about 1:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of West 103rd Place. Larry Merritt, a spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police-involved shootings, said ‘Police fired on someone and hit him.
Mikel Lumpkin was taken in serious to critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to fire officials. He had surgery Saturday night, according to a police statement.
According to the statement, issued about 8:30 p.m., “Police confronted the man and “during that encounter,” an officer shot his gun, hitting the man (Mikel Lumpkin), police said. Police were called to the scene just before 1:30 p.m. because of an “assault in progress” and came upon a man with a gun, according to the statement, issued about 8:30 p.m. Police confronted the man and “during that encounter,” an officer shot his gun, hitting the man, police said.
The shooting took place after two brothers had been fighting and one brother began to shoot at a home on the block where he knew the other brother was, a police source said. Police arrived on scene and one brother was shot, according to the police source.
Witnesses say that Lumpkins was shot after he dropped the gun multiple times and one stated that it appeared Lumpkins was shot while on the ground. The CPD had SWAT teams canvassing the neighborhood while the investigation ensued, prompting on-lookers’ fury — no doubt having barely processed the shootings that took place several hours earlier.
And it’s not even New Year’s Eve yet.
Monday, Dec 28, 2015 · 2:57:07 AM +00:00
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smoothnmellow
Oh there’s more from the father. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
The father of a 19-year-old man shot fatally by a Chicago Police officer Saturday morning said the cop knew he “messed up” after firing at the man and a 55-year-old neighbor who also was killed on the West Side.
Antonio LeGrier told the Chicago Sun-Times he saw the white or Hispanic officer standing on the grass 30 feet from the bodies after he heard the gunshots in the 4700 block of West Erie Street.
“F—, no, no, no. I thought he was lunging at me with the [baseball] bat,” LeGrier said the officer yelled following the shooting that claimed the lives of college student Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie R. Jones.
“In my opinion, he knew he had messed up. It was senseless,” Antonio LeGrier, 47, said of the dark-haired officer who had fired.
“He knew he had shot blindly, recklessly into the doorway and now two people are dead because of it.”