Around 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, September 18, Chicago police officers shot and killed a 19-year-old civilian named Gordon Lash on the CTA red line. Within hours, the police gave their version of events to the media, stating that Lash had brandished a gun and pointed it at the officers prior to the shooting.
But witnesses at the Garfield station had a different account of the shooting. Several witnesses called media outlets and described an unjustified shooting. According to two civilian witnesses who contacted the Chicago Tribune, Lash never brandished a gun. A civilian who witnessed the shooting said that police shot Lash after they already had him pinned against a wall with his arms behind his back.
The Chicago Tribune’s ongoing coverage of the shooting can be found here: