FIGHTING FOR LIFE

Lawsuit Claims Chicago Cop ‘Callously’ Shot Black 7th Grader in the Back

The unarmed teen was shot “right through his back” while running away from Chicago police officers, the lawsuit says.

A federal lawsuit has been filed over a Chicago police officer’s shooting of an unarmed 13-year-old last week. The lawsuit singles out both the unnamed police officer and the City of Chicago. The teenager at the center of the suit, identified only as A.G. and described as a Black seventh grader, is “lying in a hospital bed with a bullet still lodged in his body after being shot in the back,” the suit says, adding that he and his family are “waiting to learn whether he will ever be able to walk again.” The incident, which was captured on the surveillance camera of a gas station where the teen was shot, took place on May 18. Authorities said the teen fled from cops who were trying to stop a vehicle believed to have been carjacked. The boy was shot once as he “turned toward officers,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said last week, noting that no shots were fired at cops. The suit alleges civil rights violations and excessive force used “disproportionately against minorities.” “A.G. was unarmed and did as he was instructed. But the officer still shot him–recklessly, callously, and wantonly–right through his back,” it says.