Black teen killed, woman injured in police shooting; families want answers
A Black teen was killed and a young Black woman injured in a police shooting in Illinois that authorities said is under investigation and which has left families of the pair seeking answers.
The shooting occurred Tuesday night just before midnight in Waukegan, 42 miles north of Chicago, police said.
A Waukegan police officer "was investigating an occupied vehicle," when the vehicle fled, police said in a news release Wednesday.
Moments later, a second officer spotted the vehicle in a nearby area. As the second officer got out of his vehicle and approached, the car began to move in reverse and the officer fired "in fear of his safety," according to the news release.
Police said the driver, a Black female in her 20s, was hospitalized with serious injuries, but is expected to recover. The passenger, a Black male teenager, was taken to a hospital where he died of his injuries.
Waukegan police are not yet identifying the two people shot.
Police said no weapons were found in the car.
It is not clear why the first officer was investigating the occupied vehicle. In an email Thursday responding to NBC News, Waukegan police Cmdr. Edgar Navarro did not answer a question about the reason for the investigation.
The department's officers and squad cars are all equipped with cameras, police said. It was unclear what video exists of the shooting, and Navarro said Thursday there is no timeline as to when footage will be released.
The Illinois State Police will lead the investigation into the incident, according to the police statement. An autopsy by the Lake County coroner's office had been scheduled for Wednesday.
The officer who fired the shot was Hispanic, and the first officer who investigated the vehicle was white, police said.
The officers involved in the incident will be placed on administrative leave due to there being an active investigation, police said.
At a press conference Wednesday, Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said hearing about the shooting was painful.
“I know this family personally. Their great-grandmother used to babysit me,” he said. “To be able to speak to them about this — yeah, it hurts.”
He added: “I’m a Black man who grew up in that same neighborhood. It could have been me.”
Families told NBC Chicago they want answers and justice.
“They were not thugs. They were not problematic kids,” a family spokesman told the outlet. “They didn’t have any issues with anybody out here.”
“We’re looking for peace and justice. That’s all we want,” said a woman whom NBC Chicago identified as a great aunt of the passenger who died. “We want to know what happened. We would like to see the video cam.”
A protest against the shooting is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, according to the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter.
