Police fire 96 shots in 41 seconds, killing Black man during traffic stop

Dexter Reed’s mother remembers the last time she saw her son alive. “Mom, I’m going for a ride,” he told her, before heading out in the car that he had purchased just three days earlier.

Reed, 26, was killed that same day, when tactical-unit police officers fired 96 bullets at him within 41 seconds, according to Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, which investigates allegations of police misconduct and police shootings. “He was just riding around in his car,” Dexter’s mother, Nicole Banks, told Fox 32 Chicago on Tuesday, as she broke down in tears. “They killed him.”

COPA released video footage of the shooting Tuesday and said its investigation of the “officers’ use of deadly force” on March 21 remains ongoing, and that its review of the footage and initial reports “appear to confirm that Mr. Reed fired first,” hitting one officer while four others returned fire.

The Chicago Police Department told CNN that it was cooperating with COPA’s investigation and that it “cannot make a determination on this shooting until all the facts are known and this investigation has concluded.” The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Post.

According to COPA, police stopped Reed “for purportedly not wearing a seat belt.” In several body-cam videos, multiple officers can be seen exiting an unmarked vehicle and surrounding Reed’s car, which had tinted windows.

The officers demand that he unlock and open the door, and not roll up the window.

“Upon stopping Mr. Reed, multiple officers surrounded his vehicle while giving verbal commands. When Mr. Reed did not comply with these commands, officers pointed their firearms at Mr. Reed,” COPA said.

Officers can be seen retreating as they ask Reed to exit the vehicle. Then, shots can be heard.

Reed can be seen staggering out of the vehicle before collapsing onto the road. As officers approach his motionless body, they can be heard telling Reed not to move. A pool of blood can be seen on the ground next to Reed as officers place him in handcuffs.

“Ultimately there was an exchange of gunfire which left Mr. Reed dead and an officer shot in the forearm,” COPA said, adding that a gun was recovered from the front passenger seat of Reed’s car.

Andrew M. Stroth, the family’s attorney, said Tuesday that the plainclothes officers “did not announce they were police officers.” The footage shows many officers in plainclothes, with some wearing vests with the word “police” on them.

According to COPA, police continued to shoot at Reed after he left his car and fell to the ground. The agency noted that Reed was “struck by gunfire multiple times and was transported to the hospital and later pronounced deceased.”

Stroth described Reed as a star athlete who “enjoyed playing hoops,” and loved to cook and spend time with his family. He called on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to “disband these tactical units that have been terrorizing communities.”

Johnson said Tuesday that he was aware that the footage was “extremely painful and traumatic” and that the officers involved in the fatal shooting have been placed on a 30-day administrative leave.

“As mayor and as a father raising a family, including two Black boys on the west side of Chicago, I am personally devastated to see yet another young Black man lose his life during an interaction with the police,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that he had spoken with Reed’s family over the weekend and that he was committed to a “transparent” investigation.

Stroth called on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to “move swiftly to get justice” for the Reed family and said “the people of Chicago deserve to have awareness and full knowledge of police shootings.”

In a statement Tuesday, Foxx said “it is imperative that we let the investigation takes its course.”

“Be assured, our commitment to finding justice for everyone involved is unwavering,” she said.

“If you didn’t stop my nephew, he will be alive today,” Reed’s uncle told CNN on Tuesday.

Reed’s death has once again reignited debate and anger over police brutality and excessive use of force in the United States, prompting protests outside a Chicago police station this week, with activists, residents and family members calling for justice.

There have been at least 9,497 fatal police shootings in the United States since 2015, according to The Post’s database. In the past 12 months, at least 1,116 people have been shot and killed by police.

Police killings of Black Americans including Tyre Nichols, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have prompted protests and a racial reckoning that translated into hundreds of bills aimed at curtailing law enforcement powers and reshaping policing.

“How many more young Black and Brown men need to die before this city will change?” Stroth said.