A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot late Sunday by a police officer, marking the third police-involved shooting in Chicago since Friday.
Chicago Police said in a statement that officers were responding to shots in the Englewood neighborhood just before 11 p.m. when they spotted an individual running down the street. Authorities got out and chased him down an alley when the teen allegedly turned and pointed a gun at them on the 6600 block of South Sangamon.
One officer opened fire, police said, and shot the 15-year-old boy identified by family as Michael Westley. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he died. No officers were injured.
Police said they recovered a .40 caliber handgun from the scene and a revolver on the teen’s waistband.
“There’s been an ongoing gang feud in this area, and that’s what the gang officers were responding to in the first place,” Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.
Westley’s family said the teen attended Urban Prep Academies where he was on the basketball team and got good grades. The school said the teen did not attend Urban Prep, but rather TEAM Englewood, a CPS school that’s located on the Urban Prep-Englewood campus.
The family questions why police were chasing Westley and how and why he was shot.
The incident follows a violent weekend that saw seven people killed and more than 40 injured.
“Pretty violent weekend,” Camden said. “As we keep hearing, crime is down. I’m not sure where it’s down, but that’s what we’re being told.”
Police point out that despite the wave of shootings over the last few days, the city saw eight fewer shootings this weekend compared to the same weekend last year and fewer murders to date this year than any year since the mid 1960’s.
The Independent Police Review Authority, which examines all officer-involved shootings, and Area South detectives launched investigations into the incident.