Grief, Disbelief and Anger as 2 Families Deal with Accidental Police Shooting

CHICAGO, IL — The daughter of the Chicago woman accidentally shot dead by police Saturday morning says an officer on the scene told her, “Your mother’s dead. Get over it,” according to a family lawyer.

The families of Bettie Jones, 55, and Quintonio LeGrier, 19, gathered in the rain for a prayer vigil with friends, neighbors, pastors and politicians outside their West Side home Sunday afternoon and, accompanied by their attorneys, spoke with reporters. LeGrier and Jones were shot to death by a police officer who responded to a domestic disturbance call at the apartment building where the two families live.

Chicago Police issued a statement late Saturday, saying Jones was “accidentally struck and tragically killed” when the officer opened fire shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday.

“The insensitivity that was shown by the police after the shooting occurred is of extreme concern for the family,” said Larry Rogers Jr. “One of the daughters asked one of the police officers, ‘Why did you shoot my mother?’ His response was ‘Your mother’s dead. Get over it.’ “

Attorney Sam Adam Jr. also represents the family. The Jones family will be filing a lawsuit, the lawyers said, and they are very critical of the police actions at their home and their response in the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is vacationing with family in Cuba, spoke by phone with members of the Jones family, according to a city spokesperson.

Jones hosted Christmas dinner for her large family on Friday night. A mother of five children and grandmother to six, Jones was diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. She worked at a bread factory, and she was awaiting word from her doctor about returning to work soon.

More than 100 people attended the vigil for Jones and LeGrier, including Congressman Danny Davis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. They sang, prayed, lit candles and laid flowers at the West Erie Street home in West Garfield Park. Family members wore shirts critical of the mayor emblazoned with the words “Rahm Failed Us.”

“They took my heart away,” said her daughter, LaTonya Jones, 19. “She was my everything.”

Latonya Jones was asleep in her first-floor apartment when the fatal shots were fired. She rushed to the door and found her mother bleeding on the floor of their apartment. An autopsy Sunday by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined she had been shot three times, with the fatal wound to her chest.

“They could at least send someone to clean up their mother’s blood the day after Christmas,” Adam Jr. said.

Antonio LeGrier, Quintonio’s father, told the Chicago Sun-Times his son was holding a metal bat when the police arrived in response to a 911 call. The 19-year-old NIU student home for the holidays was angry, emotionally out of control and threatening his dad with the bat. When police arrived, the son went downstairs with the bat. LeGrier told the Sun-Times he heard Jones, who opened the building’s front door for the officer, yell, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!”

Those may have been her last words.

LeGrier told the paper he next heard the officer shouting: “F—, no, no, no. I thought he was lunging at me with the (baseball) bat.”

Both families are questioning why the officer used deadly force. An Independent Police Review Authority investigation is under way. The IPRA, criticized for rarely finding an officer at fault for use of force, is under new leadership.

A police source told the Chicago Tribune investigators are asking whether the officers on scene knew they were dealing with a person suffering mental-health issues. The source also said investigators are looking into whether any officer had a Taser.

Family members said LeGrier was shot seven times. A cousin of LeGrier’s who spoke with his father told the Tribune the officer was on the other side of the lawn when he fired through the doorway.

LeGrier’s mother also took issue with initial descriptions of her son having a mental illness, information provided to reporters by other family members. Janet Cooksey said Quintonio LeGrier had emotional problems typical for a teen-ager. He was a good student, family members said, and was majoring in electrical engineering at NIU.

The officer who fired the fatal shots has been placed on desk duty for 30 days, according to the police department. This is a newly instituted policy involving all police-related shootings, put in place by interim Police Superintendent John Escalante.

The mayor on Sunday ordered the police department to review how officers respond to mental-health crisis calls.

FAMILY MEMBERS SPEAK OUT ON SUNDAY: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES VIDEO