Chicago Police Officer Charged With Murder Of 17-Year-Old

A Chicago police officer has been charged with killing a 17-year-old teenager after shooting him 16 times. Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with killing Laquan McDonald on October 20th last year. At a court appearance this week, Van Dyke was refused bail after prosecutors told Associate Judge Joseph Panarese that the video does not show Laquan putting up a fight.

No bail for Chicago cop charged in shooting death of Laquan McDonald https://t.co/4D72gSit5U pic.twitter.com/k22KSkDENu

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) November 24, 2015

It has also been reported that a number of shots were fired at Laquan as he lay on the ground. Judge Panarese rescheduled another court appearance for next Monday which gives him time to review video footage from the shooting. CNN reports that the footage is due to be released tomorrow and it has been described as graphic, chilling and "difficult to watch".

Burger King came out publicly and stated that Chicago Police deleted their footage on the murder of #LaquanMcDonald pic.twitter.com/VFA3unJWps — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) November 24, 2015

Laquan's family have released a statement: This is a difficult time for us. As we have said in the past, while we would prefer that the video not be released we understand that a court has ordered otherwise. . ." "We ask for calm in Chicago. No one understands the anger more than us but if you choose to speak out, we urge you to be peaceful. Don't resort to violence in Laquan's name. Let his legacy be better than that".