SandyMaloneChicago, IL – University of Chicago police have released bodycam and dashcam video of an officer-involved shooting in Hyde Park that left one student wounded on Tuesday night.
The incident began at about 10:15 pm on March 3, when police responded to a call for a man dressed in a red robe who was walking down the street with a pipe smashing car windows, apartment windows, and fences along the way, the Chicago Tribune reported.
When officers arrived on the scene, they encountered 21-year-old Charles Thomas in an alley.
“Stop there. Stop there. Don’t come at me,” an officer can be heard saying to Thomas in the video, as the student continued to walk toward the police car.
The video showed the student was wearing a red robe, work gloves, and a protective shield down over his face.
He appeared to be holding a pipe or a crowbar in the video as he rapidly approached the police car. He was repeatedly screaming obscenities, WMAQ reported.
Officers backed away from Thomas, and continued to give him orders that he continued to ignore, the video showed.
An officer can be heard referring to the suspect “mental” in the video.
In the video, Thomas continued toward the officers as they repeatedly ordered him to “drop that weapon.”
Then, all of a sudden, Thomas broke into a run and charged directly at the officers.
“Don’t come near me! Don’t come near me!” an officer yelled, and then he shot Thomas a split second before the man would have attacked him, the video showed.
The officer’s single shot struck Thomas in the shoulder, and he dropped to the ground.
After he was shot, Thomas continued hurling obscenities at officers who were trying to subdue him and get him medical aid, the video showed.
The University of Chicago contacted Thomas’s parents to notify them after the shooting, the Chicago Tribune reported.
University Spokeswoman Marielle Sainvilus said it was the first shooting in the University of Chicago Police Department’s 40-year history.
Chicago police are investigating the shooting. The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave as is protocol.
The university told the Chicago Tribune that the officer had two years on their police department, and that he’d undergone 40 hours of crisis intervention training and eight hours of mental health first aid training.
You can see the video of the shooting below: