Showtime released a trailer Tuesday for “16 Shots,” a documentary examining the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. It is set to premiere June 14 at 9 p.m.
The trailer features several major political figures related to the case and eventual trial and conviction of officer Van Dyke.
Appearances are made by former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, former Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden and journalist Jamie Kalven, whose reporting showed that McDonald was shot 16 times and questioned the official narrative that he lunged at cops with a knife.
Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in October 2018. He was sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison.
Nearly four years earlier, Van Dyke fatal shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald as he fled from officers after he was reported for breaking into trucks Oct. 20, 2014 in a lot on the Southwest Side. Dash cam video of the shooting was released by a judge’s order more than a year later, and Van Dyke was charged. Protesters flooded Chicago streets and chanted “16 shots,” in reference to the number of times McDonald had been hit.
“The shooting of Laquan McDonald tore up Chicago in ways the city is still processing today,” Vinnie Malhotra, a Showtime spokesperson, said. “With ’16 Shots’ Rick Rowley and his team deliver an unflinching and deep look at one of the most notorious police shootings in our history.”
The documentary was directed by Richard Rowley, an Academy Award-nominated director known for a 2013 documentary on America’s covert operations, “Dirty Wars.”
