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Photo illustration by The Daily Beast; Photo by Jim Young/Reuters Laquan McDonald was one of 19 men killed by the Chicago Police Department last year. As national media turns its attention to the city following the release of video showing McDonald being killed in what prosecutors say was an act of first-degree murder by Officer Jason Van Dyke, the 19 other homicides will go uncovered. For the past year The Daily Beast has been investigating killings by Chicago police to determine whether the police and press versions of events line up with autopsy reports; whether the Independent Police Review Authority has completed its investigations into the deaths; whether witnesses have spoken to police and IPRA investigators. Simply put: We want to know if there are more Laquan McDonalds. CHICAGO — On July 5, 2014, not far from the intersection of 87th and Morgan on Chicago’s South Side, Warren Robinson hid under a car. Maybe he was uncooperative, as police have said. Maybe he was defiant, or aggressive, or pissed off or any number of emotions that can course through the mind of a 16-year-old boy. Or maybe he was just scared, because the police were about to pump 17 bullets into his 5’9”, 135-pound frame. Whatever the case, police say they recovered a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol from Robinson. The cops there had guns, too and they used them to shoot Robinson as he climbed out from underneath the car, apparently refusing to drop his piece. Robinson is the only person shot by Chicago police more times than McDonald was last year. In all, it took 109 Chicago police bullets to kill McDonald, Robinson, and the other 17 men, a Daily Beast review of autopsy reports found. Most of those killings were not as egregious as McDonald’s, but many exist in a state of evidentiary purgatory: whether they are justified or not is nearly impossible to tell because we were not there. For activists like Black Lives Matter, virtually all were wrong and unnecessary. For police, virtually all were right and required to uphold law and order. In order to determine whether or not officers were justified in those killings, The Daily Beast compared police versions of events as reported by the press to autopsy reports provided through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as well as interviews with eyewitnesses and residents of neighborhoods where the shootings took place. In nine of 17 killings, police appeared to have been justified in their use of lethal force, namely because the decedent was armed with a gun or knife. In six killings, it is difficult or outright impossible to determine if police were justified in using lethal force. This is thanks to still-pending IPRA investigations and contradictory versions of events from eyewitnesses. In at least one case, the family of a man killed by Chicago police has sued the department and the city over their loved one’s death. Lorenzo Davis, a 23-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department who went on to work for IPRA before he was fired, has said at least three fatal shootings by police he investigated were covered up by officials. Davis told The Daily Beast last week that the investigations into those shootings have not been finalized, but when they are, he is ready to talk. Warren Robinson’s death warranted a more coverage in local media, but considering the mayhem that enveloped the city’s South and West sides that weekend—82 shot and 14 killed — the incident got a bit lost. Afterall, Robinson was the second of two teens killed by police over the holiday weekend—Pedro Rios, 14, died when he allegedly refused to drop what was described by Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden as a “Dirty Harry” gun. (Camden said Laquan McDonald “lunged” at officers, which was proven false by dashcam video.) Rios’s death appears to have been justified—as unsettling as it may be—but a number of factors may require another look at Robinson’s death. First, there is the autopsy report, which provides in precise medical detail exactly how those 17 Chicago police bullets entered Robinson’s body. The autopsy begins the same way as Laquan McDonald’s and many others does: “The body is that of a well-developed, well-nourished black male….” Sometimes there is unique identifying information, like the tattoo on Robinson’s chest that read “God’s Child.” Often times, there are quite a few bullet holes. Robinson had 17 bullet holes. Starting with a graze wound on top of the head, police worked their way down Robinson’s body with their shots, all of which traveled from back to front: 9.5 inches below the top of the head, 10 inches below, 10.5, and 11.5 inches below. The next gunshot wounds are presented 14, 15.5, 19, 20, 20.5, 21.5, and 23 inches below the top of his head. In Robinson’s right arm, with all bullets but one travelling back to front, the teen was struck twice thrice in his forearm, twice in his right shoulder, and once in the back of his hand. “He was told multiple times—he was told ‘Drop the gun, drop the gun.’ He is coming out from under the car with the gun in hand. At that point he [is] shot,” cop union Camden said at the time. “He is told again after he is shot to drop the gun and he refuses to do so still has his finger on the trigger. The officers again defend themselves.” Especially after Laquan McDonald, there is no reason to believe anything Camden says. Period. It is Camden’s job to support the officers he represents in the police union. In virtually every story about someone being shot or killed by the police, Camden gives the official but preliminary version of events. He performed this same task in his previous occupation as spokesman for the Chicago Police Department. “It gives them deniability,” said Jamie Kalven of the Invisible Institute. It was Kalven who broke the McDonald story when sources told him to look into the teen’s death. His initial story and the lawsuit later filed by independent journalist Brandon Smith helped bring what is now being called a murder to light.
