Cook County state’s attorney says she did not review video of Toledo before prosecutor’s court statement

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said that she had not seen body camera footage showing an interaction between Adam Toledo and police before a county prosecutor said that he was holding a gun in court. 

“I can confirm State’s Attorney Foxx had not seen the Toledo videos before the Roman court hearing on the 10th,” a Cook County spokesperson said in a email to The Hill. 

The Chicago Tribune first reported that one of Foxx’s staffers gave her a description of the footage of the interaction, but she told the paper she did not view the footage herself.

She did not watch the video until April 12, two weeks after the shooting occurred and two days after a prosecutor appeared to claim that Toldeo had a gun in his possession at the moment he was shot. 

Toledo, a 13-year-old boy, was fatally shot in the chest by police at the end of March. 

Police body camera footage released one week ago showed an officer chasing Toledo. When the officer finally caught up to the boy, Toledo turned around and raised his hands in the surrender pose. At that point, police claimed that they saw the 13-year-old holding a gun, though it was not immediately clear in the video. 

In an April bond hearing for 21-year-old Reuben Roman who was with Toledo that night, Cook County prosecutor James Murphy appeared to claim that Toledo had a gun on him at the exact moment the officer shot him. 

At the time, the Cook County Attorney General’s office said that Murphy “did not fully inform himself” before testifying. Murphy was placed on administrative leave Saturday.

In her comments to the Tribune, Foxx said the office is probing whether Murphy accessed the “entirety” of evidence available to him. 

“Among other things, the office is investigating whether Murphy had access to the entirety of the evidence that had been turned over to the office,” Foxx said to the Tribune.

“I recognize the significant public interest in this case, the horrific end of a life for a 13-year-old boy at the time when police engagement is under tremendous scrutiny,” Foxx said to the Tribune. “And (I recognize) that our version of events at that time was the only version of events that people had, and people give great trust to that.”

Updated 11:16 p.m.