7 Chicago officers face firings in black teen’s shooting

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON (AA) – Seven Chicago police officers face dismissal for filing false reports regarding their white colleague’s fatal shooting of a black teenager, media reports said Thursday.

"The department and its outside counsel have carefully reviewed the reports and supporting documents, videos, and other evidence and will accept the [Inspector General’s] recommendation to submit seven of the officers to the Police Board for separation based upon Rule 14 allegations outlined in the OIG’s [Office of Inspector General] report," the Chicago Police Department said in a statement, according to TIME magazine.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said he accepted the recommendations of the OIG as the other officers' reports regarding the shooting do not match video of the October 2014 shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reports.

Media reports say officer Jason Van Dyke was the only police officer who fired his gun at 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and the seven other officers were at the scene and witnessed the shooting.

Johnson's announcement came days after his department received the inspector general's report and the recommendation will now go to the Chicago Police Board for a final decision, the New York Times reports. The superintendent did not disclose the names of the seven police officers.

Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder on McDonald’s death. A video of the murder was released one year after the shooting, which showed the teenager -- though holding a knife -- was not a threat to Van Dyke, according to The Associated Press.

McDonald was shot 16 times at close range -- even after the teen collapsed from the first shot, the video of the shooting shows.

Several protests occurred in Chicago after the video was released.