Crime & Safety
Mother of 5 'Tragically Killed' in Accidental Police Shooting: Chicago PD
Police also shot and killed a young man, reportedly mentally ill, who was threatening his dad with a baseball bat early Saturday.
Chicago Police shot and killed two people in the city’s Austin neighborhood on the West Side Saturday morning after a “domestic disturbance,” according to police, and neighbors say one of the dead is a woman who answered the door and was shot in the neck.
The officers were called to the disturbance in the 4700 block of West Erie St. at 4:25 a.m. Saturday, the police statement said, when they were confronted by a “combative subject.”
Police late Saturday said the woman was ”accidentally struck,” reports DNAinfo Chicago.
A police statement sent at 8:30 p.m. elaborated, “The 55 year old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends it’s [sic] deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”
The Chicago Sun-Times identified the dead in Saturday’s shooting as 55-year-old Bettie R. Jones and 19-year-old Quientonio LeGrier, citing the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
LeGrier was threatening his father, who is also the apartment building’s landlord, with a metal baseball bat, neighbors told the Sun-Times. ABC Chicago reports that LeGrier was struggling with mental illness.
Legreir’s father, Antonio LeGrier, told the Chicago Tribune he believes the officer “messed up” when he opened fire on the house.
“I don’t feel that (my son’s) life was worth losing because he got upset,” the father said.
Jones, who lived in the downstairs apartment, opened the front door for the officers and was shot in the neck, the neighbors said. The Chicago Tribune reports that LeGrier was shot as he came out of the front door.
When the police arrived, family members said, the landlord called down to Jones, his downstairs tenant, to answer the door. Having just been asleep, Jones answered the door in her nightgown.
Though no one witnessed the shooting, multiple family members said they think police shot through the door, striking Bettie Jones three times. As evidence, family members pointed to a bullet hole in the door. There were other bullet holes in the home, including one in the daughter’s bedroom, behind the front door.
Citing family members, NBC Chicago reported that Jones was a mother of five and LeGrier an engineering student at Northern Illinois University.
Jones was spending time at home recovering from ovarian cancer.
Naportia Jones, 34, remembered her aunt as an inspiration, a confidant and the glue that held her large extended family together.
“She was like my second mom,” Naportia Jones said, as she recalled growing up with her aunts, uncles and cousins down the street and around the block from the West Erie Street apartment where Bettie Jones was killed.
Jones described her aunt as “a lively spirit” who loved Smokey Robinson and stepping, a type of couples dancing that resembles line dancing and typically is performed to older R&B music.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement Saturday.
“Anytime an officer uses force the public deserves answers, and regardless of the circumstances we all grieve anytime there is a loss of life in our city,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement. “With that in mind, I have been informed that the Independent Police Review Authority has opened investigations into each shooting, and that all evidence will be shared with the Cook County States Attorney’s Office for additional review in the days ahead.”
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating.
At this time, our focus is on collecting the evidence and identifying and interviewing all witnesses,” director Sharon Fairley said at a press conference. “At this time, it would be inappropriate for me to answer any further questions or provide any further comment on the details of what happened.”
The shooting comes as tension between Chicago Police and its community are running high following the release of video showing the killing of black teenager Laquan McDonald, which seemed to contradict the official police account of McDonald’s killing.
Protesters downtown had blocked Michigan Avenue as recently as Christmas Eve, demanding justice for McDonald’s death, decrying general police injustice and continuing to call for the resignation of Mayor Emanuel.
“How I feel as a taxpayer,” the cousin of one of the victims in Saturday’s shooting told police at the scene. “It eats me up.”
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