13-Year-Old Adam Toledo Complied With Cop But Was Still Killed, Bodycam Footage Shows

The bodycam footage shows that Adam Toledo was still fatally shot by a police officer despite complying and putting his hands up.

Bodycam footage of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by a Chicago police officer that took place back in late March has been released.

Released on Thursday (April 15), the footage shows the officer, who has since been identified as Eric Stillman, chasing Toledo in an alley, as he yells for the teen to "Stop, stop right fucking now."

As the officer catches up with Toledo, he tells him, "Hands. Show me your fucking hands, drop it." The teen is then seen with his hands raised as the officer shoots him once, Toledo falling backward as the officer walks toward him. Toledo was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident took place on March 29, when officers were responding to a call of shots fired in the area. This then led to police chasing Toledo and 21-year-old Ruben Roman, the latter of which fired the initial gunshots that the police were responding to. Ruben was apprehended, and now faces child endangerment and wepaons charges.

Prior to the video's release, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Toledo family's attorney issued a joint statement asking for a peaceful response once the footage was dropped. Lightfoot also held a news conference where she addressed the footage.

"It was excruciating," Lightfoot said, according to NBC News. "Watching the body-cam footage, which shows young Adam after he’s shot, is extremely difficult."

Prosecutors had said that Toledo had turned toward Stillman with a gun in his right hand. However, right before the video was released, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office told WGN9 that that detail was wrong, adding that the attorney who provided the information, "failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court."

In a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, Adeena Weiss Ortiz, an attorney for the Toledo family, said they're taking legal action against Stillman, saying: "If you’re shooting an unarmed child with his arms in the air, it’s an assassination."

Ortiz also addressed a slow motion version of the bodycam video, as well as surveillance video from across a parking lot next to the alley that appears to show Toledo tossing a weapon behind a fence.

"It’s not relevant because he tossed the gun," she said. "If he had a gun, he tossed it."

Stillman has been placed on administrative duties for 30 days, as the police accountability office's conduct an investigation into the shooting.