CHICAGO (AP) – A grainy dashcam video shows Ronald Johnson III running across a street at night with several officers in pursuit. One officer begins shooting – fire flaring from the barrel – as Johnson runs. Prosecutors say he was hit just as his image goes out of view.
At a news conference Monday, Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy slowed down the video to show what she says is a gun in the 25-year-old black man’s hand. She says it is a semiautomatic pistol with 12 live rounds loaded.
No audio was captured in the video, as in an earlier police shooting case. The lack of audio in the video showing the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald raised questions about whether officers might have switched audio off intentionally to conceal their actions.
McCarthy says officers repeatedly shouted at Johnson to stop and drop his weapon but that he ignored these commands.