Chicago police officers won’t face charges in Toledo, Alvarez shootings

Prosecutors announced that the Chicago Police Department officers involved in the shooting deaths of Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez won’t face criminal charges, the Chicago Tribune reported.  

At a news conference on Tuesday, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (D) said that prosecutors could not find any proof to bring charges against the two police officers: Eric Stillman, who shot 13-year-old Toledo in March 2021, and Evan Solano, who shot the 22-year-old Alvarez days later.

Foxx also said that the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor also reviewed the case and agreed that the two officers shouldn’t be charged in the incidents, according to the Tribune.

Foxx noted that raw footage released from body-worn cameras and surveillance video showed Toledo tossing a gun behind a fence, raising both of his hands and turning toward Stillman before he was shot. 

But while the surveillance video presented made clear that Toledo tossed the gun away, Stillman’s body-cam footage does not clearly show Toledo throwing the fireman, the Tribune reported. 

“We’ve concluded there was no evidence to prove that Officer Stillman acted with criminal intent,” Foxx said at the news conference. “Officer Stillman fired only one shot. Officer Stillman explained that after he fired the one time, he saw Adam’s right hand was empty, he assessed the situation and did not fire again. He believed the threat no longer existed.”

Foxx said that in the Alvarez shooting, Solano thought that Alvarez was turning to shoot toward him and his partner at the scene. 

Both shootings intensified calls in Chicago and elsewhere for police reform and social justice. 

“Far too many Black and Brown men and women have lost their lives to brutal acts of racial injustice,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)  wrote in a tweet. “All the evidence shows that we are dealing with a system of justice that isn’t being applied equally—and we need to change that.”

A Chicago prosecutor was was placed on leave last April after claiming that Toledo had a gun in his possession before he was fatally shot by Stillman. 

Alvarez’s family has filed a lawsuit against Chicago alleging that the city is responsible for Alvarez’s death in part due to the police having no policy in place, the Tribune noted.