Chicago Cop Who Shot 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo Won’t Face Charges

Chicago, IL – Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced on Tuesday that the Chicago police officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo will not face any criminal charges

“This is a somber announcement. There are no winners in this situation,” Foxx said, according to WFLD.

Foxx said the decision not to charge Chicago Police Officer Eric Stillman was made only after a thorough investigation by the state’s attorney’s office and an independent outside agency.

She said that “based on the facts, the evidence, and the law, we found that there’s no evidence to prove that Officer Stillman acted with criminal intent,” WFLD reported.

Foxx said that although Officer Stillman may have violated the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) chase policy, her office did not find criminal charges against the officer were warranted.

The fatal shooting occurred when officers were responding to a ShotSpotter alert in Little Village at approximately 2:35 a.m. on March 29, 2021 and encountered two males, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

One of the males, later identified as Toledo, was armed with a handgun and took off running, according to police.

During the ensuing “armed confrontation” in the alley west of the 2300-block of South Sawyer Avenue, Officer Stillman fired a single round, striking Toledo in the chest, police said.

He died from his wounds at the scene, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Elizabeth Toledo, Toledo’s 44-year-old mother, identified her son at the morgue two days later after she filed a missing person report with police.

His mother told police her son often snuck out of their home and that she ended up filing a missing person’s report on him after he took off again on March 25, 2021, WLS reported.

She said Toledo had returned home two days later, but that he was gone again by the night of March 28, 2021.

Before the next morning, he was dead.

COPA released bodycam video of the shooting on April 15, 2021.

Bodycam video showed the officer chasing Toledo down the alley, yelling at him to drop his weapon.

“Freeze stop! Stop right f–king now!” the officer yelled in the video as he chased the fleeing suspect.

Surveillance video from across a parking lot next to the alley showed Toledo running from police.

That video showed Toledo stopped beside an opening in the parking lot fence.

“Hey show me your f–king hands! Drop it, drop it!” the officer yelled as he caught up with Toledo, who appeared in the video to be about to dash behind the fence line.

Toledo turned his right side away from the officer, his right elbow raised behind his back as if he was drawing a gun, and his right hand contained what appeared to be a gun.

The teen then quickly raised his arm up from his right side, and his hand was empty.

At some point while raising his hand, Toledo apparently tossed the gun down the fence line, out of the view of the officer and the camera.

The video showed that the officer could only see Toledo turn quickly while raising the right hand which had held a pistol a split-second earlier.

The officer fired one shot and only then, as the suspect turned and fell, could he see that Toledo wasn’t holding a gun.

The officer immediately began providing First Aid and radioed for an ambulance and an officer to rush over a medic bag for a “sucking chest wound to the upper chest.”

At some point while raising his hand, Toledo apparently tossed the gun down the fence line, out of the view of the officer and the camera.

The video showed that the officer could only see Toledo turn quickly while raising the right hand which had held a pistol a split-second earlier.

The officer fired one shot and only then, as the suspect turned and fell, could he see that Toledo wasn’t holding a gun.

The officer immediately began providing First Aid and radioed for an ambulance and an officer to rush over a medic bag for a “sucking chest wound to the upper chest.”

Officer Stillman is a 34-year-old, six-year veteran of the Chicago police force who has never had a civilian complaint, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The officer has a military background and previously received the Superintendent’s Award of Valor from the Chicago PD.