By Daniel Uria, UPI
Police in Chicago released body camera footage Sunday of an encounter in which officers fatally shot a man suspected of being armed.
[post_ads]Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi shared video of the confrontation between officers and the man identified as 37-year-old Harith Augustus on Saturday, in which Augustus appears to be wearing a gun holster.
In the video, which has no sound, two officers approach Augustus as he stands by another officer. Augustus can be seen pulling away from an officer who grabbed for his wrist and spinning in front of the hood of a police car.
The video freezes to show what appears to be a gun on Augustus' side as he attempted to run from the officers. He can also be seen reaching at the area as he continues to flee.
Augustus was shot at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital at 5:50 p.m., according to a statement from the medical examiner's office.
"He looked like he may have something on him. They go to question him, and at that point a confrontation ensues and he is shot," said Guglielmi.
On Sunday, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Fred Waller said Augustus didn't fire his gun at officers and confirmed he didn't have a conceal carry permit.
Video of confrontation between police and Mr. Augustus at 71st and Jeffery. pic.twitter.com/Qd9q9IXNdS— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) July 15, 2018
A gun and two ammunition magazines were recovered from the scene.
The officer who fired the shots will be placed on 30-day desk duty while the Civilian Office of Police Accountability conducts an investigation.
About an hour and a half after the shooting, a crowd of about 150 people formed at 71st Street and Chappel Avenue, as officers stood in a line to block off the area. Officers attempted to move the crowd back at about 7:40 p.m. by repositioning yellow police tape from one end of a squad car to the other and the crowd began shoving and chanting "murderers" at the officers.
Some demonstrators threw rocks and bottles, while officers dragged some members of the crowd to the ground or struck them with batons.
Officers cleared the shooting scene by 10:30 p.m. and Guglielmi said four officers were injured by rocks and bottles, four demonstrators were arrested and two squad cars were damaged.
Guglielmi said the initial response from the crowd was a result of "inaccurate information" about the shooting, stating the man was unarmed.
"There was some inaccurate information that the individual was unarmed," he said. "We have cops out there, community affairs officers, trying to give them as much information as we can," he said. "There were some members of the community who were upset. This is a tragic situation where an individual lost his life."
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A group of 200 people, including Black Lives Matter organizers, Citizen Police Accountability Council members and independent citizens driven to demonstrate against the fatal police shooting of a black man, gathered the Grand Crossing, or third district, police station at about 9:55 p.m.
Demonstrators maintained a position near the district's entrance as crowd members passed around a megaphone and police did not come up to the barrier line or engage the protesters.
The demonstration ended at about 1:15 a.m. as protestors left the area.
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