The Laquan McDonald shooting occurred on the night of October 20, 2014 around 10 p.m. Officer Jason Van Dyke of the Chicago Police Department fired 16 rounds from a distance of about 10 feet, striking McDonald several times. Laquan was 17 at the time and attending high school on Chicago's West Side, where he also resided. Throughout his life, he lived with different relatives and in foster care because his mother was deemed unfit to care for him by the state. Laquan was a troubled child who had several run-ins with the juvenile system: school suspensions, expulsions, truants and arrests for drug possession. Officer Van Dyke was 36 years old at the time of the incident and a 14-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. He is married and has two children. The police officer has 20 complaints filed against him by city citizens. Ten of those complaints indicate he used excessive force during a traffic stop and two involve the use of a firearm. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayAt around 10 p.m. on the night of October 20, 2014, police were called to investigate someone carrying a knife and entering breaking into vehicles. When officers arrived on scene, they found McDonald and confronted him. He then slashed one of the officer's tires on his car and damaged his windshield with the knife. McDonald refused orders to drop the knife and Taser backup was called. Reports indicate that when Officer Van Dyke arrived on scene, he exited his vehicle and began shooting within 6 seconds of arriving. The officer first fired one shot, sending McDonald to the ground. As he lay on the ground, still holding the knife, Van Dyke emptied the remainder of his magazine into McDonald. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead at 10:42 p.m. McDonald's autopsy report revealed that he was shot in the neck, chest, back, both arms and leg right and that he had been scratched on the head. As previously reported, McDonald suffered 16 gunshot wounds, including 9 to his back. PCP was found in the McDonalds system. The on-board cameras of several officers present at the scene had been tampered with, including the audio. The FBI and the district attorney's office led the criminal investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office also intervened because there were discrepancies between the initial police report and the dashcam video. For example, the report said McDonald lunged at an officer, but the video showed no such thing. However, the video shows McDonald brandishing the knife and walking away from police as Van Dyke opens fire on him. Officer Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder on November 24, 2015. He turned himself in and spent 6 days in the Cook County Jail until he was released on bail set at $1,500. 000 $. (Van Dyke posted %10) On December 16, he was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct. On December 29, Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. The status of the lawsuit is still ongoing, I believe. If Van Dyke is convicted, he faces a sentence of 20 years to life in state prison. The case also marks the first time in 35 years that a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder following an incident that occurred while he was on duty. After the video was released in November, several protests took place. As of March 23, 2017, the charges against Officer Van Dyke are six counts of first-degree murder...