*Well damn! We’ve got some good news for folks looking for justice in the police killing of Laquan McDonald by a white police officer named Jason Van Dyke.
Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder on Friday for the 2014 shooting of McDonald, a black Chicago teenager. The case laid bare tensions between the black community and the Chicago police department.
Van Dyke, 40, was accused of shooting 17-year-old McDonald, who was armed with a knife, 16 times. Van Dyke was charged with murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct.
A dashboard camera video, released more than a year after the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by a journalist, showed police gunning down McDonald who fell to the ground.
Van Dyke, who could be sentenced to life in prison, is the first Chicago police officer to face a murder charge for an on-duty incident in decades.
The video of McDonald’s shooting sparked days of protests in Chicago, led to the dismissal of the city’s police superintendent and calls for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel resignation.
Jury deliberations began on Thursday afternoon
Van Dyke, who faces life in prison, was the first Chicago police officer to be charged with murder for an on-duty incident in decades.
The killings of mostly unarmed black men at hands of police, some of which were captured on video, helped give rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and became an issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Illinois state judge Vincent Gaughan oversaw the trial in Cook County circuit court, reports Reuters.
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