Thread by @BauerJournalism

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD Supt. David Brown have a news conference on public safety at 11 a.m. I'll live tweet.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

Coverage from @MauricioPena: blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/02/vid…

This is about to begin. You can watch here: pscp.tv/w/cznaNDFETEtC…

Brown says he'll start with a "walk-through of some of the facts ... without interfering with the investigation COPA is" conducting after police fatally shot a 13-year-old boy.

Brown: ShotSpotter detected 8 gunshots in the 2300 block of South Sawyer in Little Village.

Brown: Officers saw two males in an alley. Both fled. Officers chased, which resulted in an "armed confrontation." Officer shot, hitting 13-year-old Adam Toledo in his chest.

Brown says one of the males had a gun — but does NOT say who had the gun.

Brown: Adam had no identification on him. The 21-year-old with him, who was arrested for resisting, "provided a different name from Adam. Gave him a false, phony name. And we lost considerable time trying to identify Adam because of the wrong name."

Brown: They fingerprinted Adam three times and his prints did not match any records from CPD.

Brown: Detectives "were focused on all open cases of people who had not been located but were reported missing. After reviewing numerous reports, and unable to identify Adam, detectives began reviewing cases of missing people who had returned home. Two separate buckets of ...

"information. It was at this time that detectives found a case report matching the description of Adam, who was still unidentified at this time."

Brown: Adam had been reported missing before. On March 27, a detective contacted Adam's mom to follow up, and she said he had returned home, so his name was removed from the system that collects data on missing persons.

Brown: On March 31, two days after police shot Adam, detectives contacted his mother and told her the description of her son matched that of an unidentified person in the morgue. ...

She told detectives her son had returned home and then left again March 27/28. She had not seen him in several days.

Brown: Adam's mother went to the morgue and identified her son.

Brown: The officer who shot Adam has been placed on administrative duties for 30 days, which is "routine protocol."

Brown: COPA investigates. Brown has 90 days to review COPA's recommendations. If he agrees, that goes to the city's Law Department, and that's then filed before the Police Board.

If Brown disagrees with COPA's recommendation, it goes to the Police Board.

Brown: He thanks Adam's mother and family "for their passionate call for peace during this difficult time. This is a tragedy. The most tragic of circumstances. Let's not make it worse by rushing to judgment."

Lightfoot: "None of us have walked in Ms. Toledo's shoes, and none of us will. As a person of faith, I know that there is only one who can judge, and it is none of us. This is a complicated story. It's not my story to tell. Particularly not as our understanding of the facts is...

"evolving. What I do know, and what I will say, is Ms. Toledo and her family need our love and support in this moment, not our withering judgment. Give her space to grieve, to start to comprehend for herself, in her way and at her own speed, the magnitude in which her life and...

"that of her family's have now forever changes because events have started before things ended for Adam in an alley at 2:30 a.m. ... . I'm asking for the media and others to give her that respect and that grace."

Lightfoot: Her brother was "lost to the streets" when he was about Adam's age. It took 40 years of prison sentences, narcotics issues. Her brother is in his 60s and still struggles every day to keep his life on track.

Lightfoot: She urges COPA to be expeditious.

Lightfoot: In January 2018, the Obama admin's DOJ flagged foot chases as something that required immediate consideration. She agreed.

"It is now past time to act."

...

This tragedy underscores the necessity of reforming CPD's foot pursuit policy. They present a "significant safety issue" to officers and community members.

CPD engages in "many" foot pursuits every single day.

Lightfoot: "No longer can we afford to put off for tomorrow what we can address today because lives are truly at stake."

Lightfoot questions "how a 13-year-old boy came to be in possession of a gun."

Earlier, Brown did not say which of the "males" chased by police had a gun.

Lightfoot: "We must take this tragedy as a seminal moment and target all of the factors that allowed it to happen in the first place. Let's be clear: An adult put a gun in a child's hand. A young, impressionable child, and one who should not have been provided with lethal ...

"force, a weapon that could — and did — irrevocably change the course of his life. ... It's way past time for us to say, 'No more.'"

They will use all resources to track down the origin of this gun "and to find the person responsible for giving it to Adam. I want to bring ...

"that person, or persons responsible, for putting that gun in Adam's hands to justice. Gangs are preying upon our most vulnerable, corrupting these young minds ... ."

Lightfoot: "Too many young people have been buried in this community. And as your mayor, and as a mother myself, I'm committed to doing everything I can to bring you the justice" and answers Adam's family and community need.

Ald. George Cardenas: "Our community's torn because this is one of many tragedies. Remember, about two years ago, a young lady who was going to school ... and she got shot from a stray bullet in the 2400 South Rockwell Street. And she dropped dead right there and then. ...

"Innocent. She had nothing to do with violence. Her life was taken from her, just like this young man."

Cardenas says Adam had "nobody" as his mother and family are grieving the loss of a 13-year-old. Can't imagine what those comments sound like to people who care for Adam.

There will be a community vigil with a balloon release to honor Adam's memory at 4:30 p.m. today at 24th and Sawyer.

Lightfoot: "What I'm saying is foot pursuits pose a significant safety issue, first and foremost to the officers."

Lightfoot: "It is one of the most dangerous things that they engage in. They often get separated from their partners. Communication is difficult. ... It's way past time that we reckon with this reality that happens literally multiple times every day across many neighborhoods...."

Lightfoot: They will be focus groups from officers and the community to "strike the right balance" and look at best practices from across the country. "I think we can stand up a policy that continues to protect our communities" but doesn't put people at risk.

Lightfoot: She has not seen the body cam video. She will after Adam's mother is able to do see it. "I think that she should see the entirety of these videos first. I think I owe her that respect."

Lightfoot: She won't say if she knows if Adam's mother had scheduled a time to see the video yet. She says she'll let COPA address that.

Brown is asked if Adam had a gun and fired shots. Brown: "This question really speaks to my concern with going further than my statements with interfering with the investigation. ... I'm gonna just refer you to my statements that I've made here this morning ... ."

Brown: "Again, what I will say is what I ended my statements this morning with on that concern: We're in agreement with the Toledo family in calling for peace, that they would not be representing Adam's death in the most appropriate way if anyone is calling for violence."

Brown: On day Adam was killed, he was awoken by his command staff and told "the subject seemed very young." But they didn't have ID yet. He told them to try to identify Adam.

Lightfoot: "My hope is that these gang members aren't foolish enough to do something, but we're actively at work, will investigate. And I am determined — we will find the person who put this gun in Adam's hand."

Lightfoot: We have an obligation to his family, to this community, and all over to say to gang members: "We will not tolerate you using our children as pawns and setting them up for a life of misery."

Press conference over.