Police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Tuesday begged for help from Chicagoans to end the conflicts that result in cops shooting suspects — one day after officers wounded a 13-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man.McCarthy said police have shot 41 people this year, compared to 25 in 2010. Weapons were recovered in all but one of those shootings, including both on Monday, he said.
At a news conference, the superintendent said he did not know why police-involved shootings are up. But he noted aggravated assaults and batteries on cops have more than doubled over the past decade.
“What’s going on that people are willing to pull out guns and shoot at police officers, shoot at civilians, shoot at anybody with wanton disregard?” he said. “The fact is that we need the help of the community to turn this around.”
Parents need to make sure their kids are observing the city’s curfew, McCarthy said, adding that people need to heed officers’ commands.
“Why would you run? Why would you point a weapon at the police?” he said.
Asked if his officers are “trigger happy,” he said, “I don’t believe that’s the case.”
But the families of 13-year-old Jimmell Cannon and 20-year-old Joe Banks Jr. say they believe the two were victims of wrongful shootings by police Monday.
Jimmell, suffered multiple gunshot wounds at about 11 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Kedvale in West Humboldt Park, police said. Officers were responding to a call of shots fired in the 4300 block of West Walton when they saw Jimmell, who they wanted to question. Jimmell ran and police chased him on foot and in vehicles, police said.
Jimmell pointed a weapon at the officers and was shot at least five times, McCarthy said. The weapon was a BB gun, the superintendent said. Civilian witnesses and physical evidence support the police account of the shooting, he said.
“He don’t own any sort of gun,” responded Kenyata Cannon, the teen’s mother. “He told me the police was originally chasing another guy, but he got panicked and scared and took off.”
Jimmell was recovering Tuesday at Stroger Hospital. His family said he is a good student and is heading into seventh grade at Piccolo Speciality School, 1040 N. Keeler. He and dozens of family and friends were attending a 17th birthday party for a cousin next to a playground on school property when police chased Jimmell, the family said.
His parents said Jimmell does not hang out with gangbangers. And a teacher who visited him in the hospital said he does not have any behavior problems in school.
“He’s a doll. His mother is amazing. She works two jobs. Her kids are there and in uniform every day. She’s like my inspiration as a mother. This is a kid who made more improvement in one year than any other student,” said the teacher, who asked that her name not be published.
About three hours before Cannon was shot, officers tried to talk to Banks in the 3200 block of West Ohio in East Garfield Park when he pointed a gun and they shot him, police said.
Banks’ family gathered at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was in critical condition with wounds to his leg and back. His father said witnesses told him Banks was unarmed.
Joe Banks Sr. told reporters his son is not a gang member and that his family owns a funeral home.
“We’re a decent family,” he said.
The Banks family has filed a complaint about the shooting with the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates all police shootings. Such investigations have rarely resulted in findings of shootings that were “out of policy.” But an officer was stripped of his police powers pending an investigation into one police-involved shooting this year, McCarthy said. He said the officer shot a domestic-violence suspect who was holding a cell phone — not a weapon.
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