Video, audio released in Kajuan Raye police shooting
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority released video and audio tapes from the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kajuan Raye by a Chicago police officer the day before Thanksgiving 2016.
The tapes reveal what happened moments before and after Sgt. John Poulos shot an unarmed Raye.
The grainy black-and-white surveillance video shows Raye being chased by a Chicago police officer, however, the video does not show what happens next.
Audio tapes did not record the shots either. An out-of-breath Poulos is heard calling for help and saying "Send fire and police, he's got a gun."
Less than a minute later, an officer alerts the dispatcher of a police-involved shooting: "Two shots fired by police, two shots fired by police."
Poulos told investigators he opened fire after Raye turned twice and pointed a gun. Six minutes after the incident, an officer is heard on the audio tapes asking if the gun was recovered.
An officer saying "really" is the only response, even though Poulos states on a police report that he was threatened with a semi-automatic -- a gun was never recovered.
Activist Ja'Mal Green said he was on the scene several minutes after the shooting.
"They were looking everywhere for that gun, semi-automatic gun shouldn't be that hard to find, especially when you shot him with a gun in his hand," Green said.
An autopsy report showed Raye was shot in the back.
Michael Oppenheimer, an attorney for Raye's family, said that while the video and audio released may not reveal a lot, the fact that a gun was never found is revealing.
"In my opinion, just because he said he's got a gun doesn't mean he had a gun or thought he had a gun," said Oppenheimer.
As it states in the police report, it was raining and dark on the night of the shooting.
Raye's family has already filed a lawsuit against Sgt. Poulos.
While he has been stripped of his police powers, Poulos was cleared of wrongdoing after fatally shooting another unarmed man three years ago.
