Veteran Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, the Cook County State's Attorney announced.
The teen was shot 16 times in October of 2014 when police were responding to reports of car break-ins when they came across McDonald. Officers reported that McDonald, who had PCP in his system at his time of death, was behaving erratically and had refused to obey police orders by dropping a 4-inch folding knife he was wielding during the incident.
Unlike other cases involving police shootings, this entire shooting, including McDonald's death, was caught on dash-cam.
The video shows Van Dyke, 37, jumping out of his car and unloading his rounds into McDonald within seconds, lawyers for McDonald's family have said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
After the first few shots knocked McDonald to the ground, Van Dyke unleashed another volley that struck the teen several more times as his body lay in a near fetal position on the ground, his lawyers continued.
Van Dyke's lawyer and the police union argue that Van Dyke was in fear of his life since McDonald was armed. However, that didn't stop the judge from handing out the first-degree murder charge, the first time a Chicago police officer has received such a charge for an on-duty fatality in nearly 35 years. The charge carries a minimum of 20 years in prison if Dyke is convicted.
The charges come after Frank Valderrama, a Cook County judge, ordered the video to be released last Thursday after the city had declined to do so for months, according to The New York Times.
This order was well-received by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who had condemed Van Dyke's actions and called for prosecutors to take swift action.
"In accordance with the judge's ruling, the city will release the video by Nov. 25, which we hope will provide prosecutors time to expeditiously bring their investigation to a conclusion so Chicago can begin to heal," Emanuel said.
Despite the hope for healing, the video is likely to do the exact opposite, local sources believe, with some predicting it "could tear Chicago apart," according to CNN.
Anger has been simmering for months ever since the shooting last year, and the city has been preparing for a reaction to the video which has even described by Van Dyke's lawyer as "graphic, disturbing and difficult to watch." As with other released videos in the past, they usually stir up fresh outrage and indignation.
Emanuel met with local activists and community leaders to discuss the coming release and what it could mean for the city, calling for them to use their influence to ensure that the resulting demonstrations are peaceful.
"Many in the community feel betrayed," the Rev. Ira Acree, a pastor at the Greater St. John Bible Church, said after the meeting. "Protests are imminent."
"Chicago is on the tipping point," the Rev. Roosevelt Watkins said. "We could be just like Ferguson."
