An armed offender was shot multiple times and died following a confrontation with Chicago beat cops Saturday late afternoon. According to Chicago's police spokesman, a gun and two magazines were recovered at the scene. As police worked to process the scene, a crowd formed and began chucking rocks and urine-filled bottles at police in the Grand Crossing neighborhood.
With a gun and two magazines, we wonder if the victim was a concealed carry licensee. At the same time, we know that angry mobs don't usually form over the death of a good guy.
Here's the Tribune's coverage.
A fatal shooting by Chicago police Saturday afternoon fueled a violent clash between officers and a large crowd of onlookers who threw bottles and rocks as cops swung back with batons.
Following the fracas, a comparatively peaceful protest at the Grand Crossing police station stretched into Sunday morning.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. at 2098 E. 71st St., and police took about five hours to bring things under control. Some people screamed “murderers” as officers lined up against them. Some in the crowd held cameras up to take video, while others behind them threw rocks and glass bottles, some filled with urine.
As officers tried to contain the crowd, some of them dragged people to the ground or struck them with batons. Other officers held batons over their heads to ward off people yelling at them.
“You violent mother——-,” one woman in the crowd screamed.
Here's the Trib with what precipitated the shooting.
…The shooting occurred after patrol officers on foot saw a man who was “exhibiting characteristics of an armed person,” Guglielmi said. “He looked like he may have something on him. They go to question him, and at that point a confrontation ensues and he is shot.’’
He had no details of the confrontation, but said the man suffered several gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital. A gun and two ammunition magazines were recovered, Guglielmi said.
Antoine Howell, 42, said he worked with the man at the same barbershop for about three years, and during that time had come to admire the man's attitude. The man was supposed to attend Howell's bachelor party Saturday night. He had just given Howell a haircut in preparation for the celebration, then had headed out to buy cigarettes and change his clothes, Howell said.
A Sun-Times reporter said he was hit by officers who rushed a parking lot. “I have my press badge on and identified myself as a reporter, but I got shoved to the ground by two cops who smacked my phone out of my hand,” tweeted Nader Issa.
You can wear a Ronald McDonald outfit, Mr. Issa, (his twitter feed) but if you ebb and flow with an antagonistic crowd, don't expect the police to treat you any differently than the rest of the mob.
Issa remained right in the thick of the aggressive mob as the photo above and the ones below show. The same mob that trashed two CPD squads and injured four officers with thrown projectiles.
Chicago's finest were not going to allow an antagonistic mob to over-run the crime scene and destroy evidence.
Of course, community agitators ran out and bought some fresh batteries at their corner drug store to power their megaphone to gin up anger in the crowd.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in America, people trolled Issa's twitter feed.
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