Thread by @BauerJournalism

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and some community leaders holding news conference at noon where they'll ask for peace as city preps to release Adam Toledo video.

I'll live tweet. Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions. blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/15/lig…

You can watch here: pscp.tv/w/1YqKDeQBXnLGV

Lightfoot: "A little over 2 weeks ago, a tragedy occurred that left a child dead, a mother in mourning and a family in crisis."

Lightfoot: On March 29, police shot and killed Adam Toledo, 13. "Later today, the body-worn camera and POD camera and other video and audio footage which captured the events leading up to and including the shooting will be released to the public."

Lightfoot: "I have seen those videos, and let me just say they are incredibly difficult to watch, particularly at the end."

Lightfoot: She's watched dozens of videos like this one and been to scenes to police shootings. "These videos and these moments are never easy to bear witness to, regardless of the circumstances. And what I've learned is you ned to brace yourself beforehand. Let yourself feel ...

"the pain and anguish and shock of these traumatic events to avoid becoming number as you watch. As more and more people see this footage, I want to ask again that everyone tuning in right now think first and foremost about Adam Toledo, about what his family is enduring every ...

"single day since they learned of his passing. I also ask that each of us give them space to breathe."

Lightfoot: "Even as our understanding of this incident continues to evolve, this remains a complicated and nuanced story. And we all must proceed with deep empathy and calm and, importantly, peace."

Lightfoot: "Community support is and will continue to be invaluable, not only as the investigation into this tragedy continues, but as we work that much harder to wrap our arms around young people in Little Village and across our city."

Lightfoot: "Two facts about this tragedy remain clear: First, in the middle of he night, this child was in contact with an adult who had a gun, and then ended up being shot and killed by a police officer. The second: There are too many young people in our city, boys and girls ...

alike, who have been left vulnerable by systemic failures that we simply must fix. These two realities urge us to reckon with and address the relationship between police, our communities and especially our young people. And, in turn, we must deal with the cancerous role of ...

"illegal firearms that plague every Chicago community."

Lightfoot: "Each of these challenges alone have been hard and breathtaking in scope, but all of them have come at the same tie and keep reverberating across our city, making it sometimes feel easier to focus on their immediate impacts instead of the ways in which they stem ...

"from systemic issues that simmer beneath the surface of our city, of our society. Issues like generational poverty, disinvestment and, yes, racism."

Lightfoot: "Adam's death is a forceful reminder that we cannot delay this effort any longer.

"As the investigation in the police shooting ... continues, I urge everyone: Reserve everyone until the Civilian Office of Police Accountability ... has done its work." ...

She wants COPA to do that work "thoroughly, transparently and with all deliberate speed."

Chicago has a long history of police abuse. "While we don't have enough information to be the judge and jury of this particular situation, it is certainly understandable why so many of ...

"our residents are feeling an all-too-familiar" sense of pain. Trust between CPD and communities remains "badly broken," which makes it difficult for many people to wait for the facts to make up their minds. ...

"But again I urge, I urge each resident who cares and loves the city: Let's wait until we hear all the facts."

Lightfoot: "Foot pursuits put everyone involved at risk: the officers, the person being pursued and bystanders. ...

blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/05/pol…

"We have to do better, and I charge the superintendent with bringing to me a policy that recognizes how dangerous this is. We can't afford to lose more lives."

Lightfoot: "Sometimes the streets are every bit as seductive and powerful as a narcotic. And families do everything they can ... to love and support their children, but they're fighting against powerful, powerful forces."

Lightfoot: "We must do everything we can, also, to eliminate the scourge of firearms from our city."

Lightfoot: Every year, CPD recovers more guns than NYC and LA combined because "we have too many damn guns on our streets." We need to close loopholes.

Lightfoot: We cannot fight this fight without federal help. And we must hold those who "put the guns in the hands of our children, or harm them with guns, accountable for their actions."

Lightfoot: This past weekend, they convened the mayor's young commission. A young man from Little Village spoke and talked about how his "whole life he's walked by murals in his neighborhood with a growing list of names of people who have been felled by gun violence."

Karina Ayala-Bermejo of Instituto del Progreso: "... What I ask is that when we see this video that will be very difficult and very painful, that we embrace our children, that we embrace our community, that we feel the pain that Adam Toledo's pain is feeling and have felt in ...

"this nightmare. And that we allow space for the family to process, to heal. I call for peace. I call for justice. But I also call for nonviolence."

Ayala-Bermejo: "Today we grieve as a city together. We grieve for the family and recommit to what we know is a necessary action that involves all community members, all residents and all of us as parents and all of us as leaders."

Ayala-Bermejo: Recommit to investing in youth and peace.

Ric Estrada from Metropolitan Family Services: He was raised 5 blocks from where Adam was killed. "A 13-year-old boy's life was taken, and his future was taken from him. And that's, I think, the story we all have to keep in our mind."

Estrada: We need to give the Toledo family "time to grieve; absolutely, we need to call for justice. But, in our community, ... we need to grieve, we need to allow this family to grieve."

Raul Raymundo of the Resurrection Project: I have not seen the video, but from what he's heard, "We can all anticipate high emotions — emotions of anxiety, emotions of anger, emotions of despair and so forth."

Raymundo: He's asking that people "exercise our First Amendment rights, protest in peace and nonviolence. Violence is not going to resolve violence."

Lightfoot: "It was excruciating" to watch the video. "There are several videos that kind of start at the beginning of the episode. But watching the body-cam footage, which shows young Adam after he is shot, is extremely difficult."

Lightfoot on the Adam Toledo video: "This is not something you want children to see."

Lightfoot: "I think we need to do more listening to community members from Little Village and other neighborhoods from across the city. But this, this — our young people have been living with a lot of trauma for a long time."

Lightfoot: "Family did everything they could, and still this happened." City needs to think strategically about what resources it needs to provide to on-the-ground organizations. There won't be a one-size-fits-all fix.

Lightfoot: "I don't want to get into the real substance of this because the independent investigation is going on. But I've seen no evidence whatsoever that Adam Toledo shot at the police."

Lightfoot on why a slowed-down version of the video will be offered: "One, it was offered to and the family saw that. And they agreed that it would be helpful to the public to be able to see that version. I will tell you, for example, with the body-camera video of the officer ...

"who ends up firing the fatal shot, he's running through an alley. The raw video footage is extraordinarily jumpy. It's really hard to see anything. I think, and the family agrees ... providing a slowed-down, frame-by-frame opportunity to see what happened is going to be ...

"helpful to members of the public."

Lightfoot: "When you see — and I urge you, if you watch it, watch all the footage — you're gonna see that officer spring into action to try to revive Adam, to call for medical assistance. I don't know him. I don't even know anything, very little about him. But I've had ...

"experience of investigating a number of police-involved shootings in my earlier career. And I know that most officers go through their whole career and they never fire their weapon in the line of duty. I also know that every time it happens, it's extraordinarily traumatizing ...

"for them." She doesn't want to talk about this individual officer's circumstances. "There are a lot of people who will probably be angry hearing me say that, but that is the facts."

Lightfoot: We don't hear and talk a lot about police officers and their families. These are hard experiences for them. "People have a range of emotions when they see these videos. That's understandable. ... We all have to our ourselves in the shoes of everyone ... . This is a ...

"hard thing. It's complicated. Police-involved shootings always invoke a significant amount of emotion, as well they should. ... I hope that people express themselves peacefully."

Lightfot: "I don't think it's appropriate for us to talk about how [Adam's family is] doing. That's for them." They've asked for privacy and space. City will "respect that."

Lightfoot: "What I said is that a number of community organizations in Little Village — En Lace, New Life Covenant Church and others — have provided a significant" amount of resources to Adam's family.

Lightfoot: "We have been preparing for the Chauvin trial for months now. And as part of those preparations, we have been in regular contact with businesses all across the city, not just in the Downtown area but also in the neighborhoods ... ."

Lightfoot: "We want to prepare people for the release of these videos, but also to assure folks that we are ready and prepared in the event that something happens. It's gotta be communications that flow both ways. So we're urging people, if you see something to say something."

Lightfoot: Videos will be released at 2:30 p.m., is her understanding. She wants city — individuals, businesses, residents — to be prepared.

Lightfoot asked about prosecutors saying Adam held a gun: "You'll be able to see what the video shows. It's not for me to confirm that. I'm very aware of what was said at the bond hearing for Mr. Roman; I believe that, as articulated, the comments of the state's attorney were ...

"hard thing. It's complicated. Police-involved shootings always invoke a significant amount of emotion, as well they should. ... I hope that people express themselves peacefully."

Lightfoot: The names of officers involved will eventually be released, but it's standard protocol to let the investigations play out.

Press conference over.

"correct, but that's not for me to say."