Chicago Police shot and killed two people early Saturday morning, including a 55-year-old mother of five who was apparently fired on by accident. The police apparently did mean to shoot 19-year-old engineering student Quintonio LeGrier, who was threatening his father with a metal baseball bat. Bettie Jones lived downstairs from LeGrier. LeGrier’s father was the one who called the police and then called Jones to open the door once officers arrived, according to the local ABC affiliate.
“Upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon which fatally wounded two individuals,” Chicago police said in a statement. “The 55 year old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”
It’s unclear what, if anything, threatening Jones and LeGrier did before they were shot. There was no gun recovered at the scene, a police source tells the Chicago Tribune. Both Jones and LeGrier were black and police did not disclose the race of the officers involved.
LeGrier’s father tells the Chicago Sun-Times that the officer who shot his son knew he had “messed up” after he opened fire. “F—, no, no, no. I thought he was lunging at me with the [baseball] bat,” LeGrier said the officer yelled following the shooting. “He knew he had shot blindly, recklessly into the doorway and now two people are dead because of it.” LeGrier described his son as a “whiz kid” who suffered from mental illness and was recently prescribed medication.
LeGrier’s mother said she was told her son was shot seven times. “Seven times he was shot,” Janet Cooksey said. “He didn’t have a gun. He had a bat. One or two times would have brought him down.
