Memorial held for Adam Toledo 5 years after he was shot and killed by CPD officer

Friends and family came together Sunday to remember Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police five years ago Sunday.

The family dubbed the event Toledo's "angelversary." It was behind Farragut Career Academy IB World High School, 2345 S. Christiana Ave.

Officer Eric Stillman shot and killed Toledo after a foot chase in an alley near 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue, less than a second — to be precise, 838 milliseconds — after Toledo dropped a gun he had been carrying.

"This shouldn't have happened," said Adam Toledo's mother, Elizabeth Toledo. "I just want justice for my son."

Video footage released weeks after the shooting shows Toledo and 21-year-old Ruben Roman standing on a street corner when several shots were fired early on the morning of March 29. Both then ran past a church and into a nearby alley. Body camera footage shows an officer chasing Toledo down the alley, telling the boy to show the officer his hands.

Toledo can then be seen stopping near a gap in the fence in the alley, with both hands at his side, his left shoulder facing the officer. When the video is slowed down, a frame of the footage does appear to show a gun in Toledo's hand just before he raises his arms and the officer opens fire. Surveillance video of the same moment from a different angle appears to show Toledo with his right arm behind the fence, possibly making a throwing motion, and then turning back toward the officer. 

However, at the moment when the officer opens fire, the body camera video shows Toledo has his hands up, and they appear to be empty.

The shooting prompted protests over police use of force, and calls for the police to halt foot pursuits altogether until the department completely overhauls its foot chase policy.  

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability in 2022 that Stillman be fired. But then-police Supt. David Brown did not agree — recommending that Stillman be suspended for no more than five days.

Then-Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx declined to charge Officer Eric Stillman in Toledo's death.

A civil rights trial surrounding the shooting starts one week from Monday, on April 6.