The Civilian Office of Police Accountability released video Friday of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a suspected kidnapper on the Northwest Side.
The body camera video shows an officer confronting 42-year-old Luis E. Vasquez on July 8 in an apartment in the Belmont Central neighborhood.
After partially entering the room, the police officer yells, “Don’t move. Chicago police. Don’t move,” the video shows.
Vasquez reclined on the sofa, leans forward, yells something inaudible and begins to turn over, the video shows. As Vasquez places his hand near what looks like a handgun on the edge of the sofa, the officer fires several shots, and Vasquez falls to the floor.
He died later at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.
Ephraim Eaddy, a COPA spokesman, said the investigation into the officer’s actions is ongoing.
Vasquez was accused of carjacking two people the night before in the west suburbs, police have said. He drove a man and woman — both in their 40s — to the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue and held them against their will inside an apartment, police said.
They were handcuffed, but escaped while their captor slept, police said. An off-duty officer driving nearby saw them at 6:45 a.m. and learned they had been kidnapped. He called for backup.
Officers arrived shortly after and tried to enter Vasquez’s building, police said. Video shows them trying to unlock a front gate, then jumping a fence instead and entering through the rear porch. After checking several empty rooms, the officer confronted Vasquez upstairs.
It was unclear why the victims were kidnapped. In a statement, Elgin police said Vasquez knew them.
The officer who fired the shots was placed on 30-day desk duty, which is standard procedure, police said. COPA, which investigates shootings involving Chicago police officers, is required to release video relevant to an investigation within 60 days of the incident.
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