Chicago Police Release Body Cam Footage of 13 Year Old Death

Video of the fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo has been released to the public.

According to ABC News, the bodycam footage was released by Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and shows a police officer chasing Toledo down a street while yelling commands.

Police! Stop. Stop right f---ing now. Hands -- show me your f---ing hands now. Drop it!

The officer yells "drop it" for a final time before the 13-year-old boy puts his hands up, and in less than a second, the officer shoots Toledo in the chest.

Chicago Police use a system known as ShotSpotter—"a gun detection system with sensors that can identify and alert officials of potential gunshots." When police responded to shots fired just before 3 a.m. on Chicago's West Side they encountered two male subjects: 21-year-old Ruben Roman and 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

Even though Toledo's family wanted the video to remain private after seeing it this past Tuesday, COPA could only hold the release back for so long as city policy "requires that bodycam footage be released within 60 days of an incident."

The bodycam video is extremely graphic and provides multiple angles of the incident. For a deep dive, you can see them here.

The biggest debate surrounding this incident is whether or not Toledo had a gun in his hand at the time when he was fatally shot. Some argue that he ditched a gun right before turning to put his hands up. Some believe that Toledo never had a gun at all.

Multiple outlets have reported on the story and each one points out that the time between when saw Toldeo with a gun and when the officer fired was less than a second.

The officer who killed Toledo was audibly shaken after the incident. As of right now, the Toledo family (via their lawyers) says they are conducting their own investigation.

We are continuing to conduct our own investigation as we seek justice for Adam and his family. We are meeting with representatives of the city of Chicago and will have no further comment on the facts in the case at this time.

See the full story here via ABC News.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.