Another unarmed black man is dead at the hands of Chicago police this week. On Wednesday, police were dispatched to a “battery in progress” when the shooter, a police sergeant whose name has not been released, encountered Kajuan Raye. Due to the fact that he “matched the description” of someone involved, he chased him. During the chase, Raye was shot multiple times, once in the back. According to the officer, Raye pointed a gun at him, however, no gun has been found.
The unnamed sergeant stated that Raye turned toward him twice during the brief foot pursuit and pointed a weapon at him. Then “at some point” the officer opened fire. In the district where the shooting occurred, the Englewood District officers don’t wear cameras. The department stated that they are seeking out surveillance footage. One angle of the shooting was released, however it only shows a potion of the chase – and doesn’t show Raye turn or point a gun. The department conducted a “grid search” looking for the weapon, but none have turned up.
This comes at a time when the Chicago Police Department have been labeled the most corrupt law enforcement agency in the nation. Chicago has yet to recover from the damage done by the Laquan McDonald shooting.
“Unfortunately, we still don’t have a complete synopsis of exactly how and what transpired,” said Chicago PD Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Raye’s family believes the sergeant is lying. “There was no gun,” stated Ahkeya White, Raye’s cousin. She stated they were not involved in any fight and were simply standing at a bus stop near where the police were looking. “The police rode up, got out the car and told them to come to the car and they both ran. One went one way, the other went the other way and the police officer ended up chasing after my cousin. The friend that was with him ran the opposite direction, he said he heard four shots,” White said about the incident.
The family has already hired attorney Jay Payne, who has little confidence in any investigation moving forward. Payne stood by at the shooting scene and watched while investigators threw the towel in on their search for the non-existent gun. “They’re done searching and they didn’t find a gun, because the kid didn’t have a gun,” Payne said. “If they come out and say they found a gun, 48 hours after the fact, it doesn’t look good for them. It smacks of a coverup.” Raye’s shooting death is the third shooting death by Chicago police in the last seven days.
A vigil was held for Raye at the intersection where he was murdered. The crowd held signs and pictures of Raye. Many who were there, knew the 19-year-old, and recalled his love for basketball and dogs. The many angry attendees, like White, are stunned and are trying to understand what happened that night. “Why, because I know he didn’t do anything to deserve it. We want answers, but there’s really no explanation for what happened other than this is what’s been going on, and it seems, you know, that this is the norm. It’s unacceptable.”
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Anonymous, I propose an app be developed that all citizens opposed to the brutal police state this country has become could install in their mobile device. When a witness to or victim of police violence activates their app it would notify other app users within a preset distance and guide them via gps to the scene where they could capture overwhelming video evidence of the law enforcement violence/crime that cannot be lost or covered up. We must stand together against this or else our children and grandchildren will pay the price of our indifference