Who is Elizabeth Toledo? Adam Toledo's mother says 13-year-old was 'full of life', wanted to be police officer
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Elizabeth Toledo, the mother of Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police in Chicago on March 29, 2021, has spoken out regarding the death of her son.
The incident received nationwide interest after body camera footage released to the public on April 15 by Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability showed Adam raising his hands in the air moments before he was shot. There is still dispute over whether he possessed a firearm at the time of the incident. At the time of the confrontation with the authorities, the teen was running alongside 21-year-old Ruben Roman Jr, who had an arrest warrant out in his name and who was later taken into custody.
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The arrest reports published by COPA indicated that the teen posed an "imminent threat of battery with a weapon." The report added that officer Eric Stillman shot Adam for allegedly not following directions, running, using significant force likely to "cause death or great bodily harm," and being armed with a semi-automatic pistol.
Who is Elizabeth Toledo?
Adam's mother, Elizabeth Toledo, told reporters earlier this month that her son "was so full of life." “They just took it away from him.” She said that she last saw her son during a gathering to memorialize a relative who died a few years ago. She said that the seventh-grader would sneak out at night while she was asleep.
“I want (to) know what happened,” she said. “I just want justice for my son. That’s all.” After protesters grew violent following the death of the teen, Elizabeth urged them to stay calm, saying, “Adam was a sweet and loving boy. He would not want anyone else to be injured or die in his name."
She also started a GoFundMe page for her deceased son, which is was disabled after it raised $52,040. There she wrote, "I'm going to share a little about Adam he was a son, a brother, a uncle (sic), a nephew, a friend, a child with a big loving family and many friends. Adam loved to play with Legos, saying funny jokes to make others laugh, he was a child that brightened up the room when he would walk in. Adam had many dreams that he will never get to live out. Ironically one of his dreams was to become a police officer. It weighs heavy on our hearts to be planning our last goodbyes instead of watching him grow up and live out those dreams."
Adam Toledo death footage 'extremely difficult and heartbreaking'
Lawyers for the teen's family said in a statement that seeing the footage was "extremely difficult and heartbreaking for everyone present, and especially for Adam’s family." The Chicago Police Department released a slowed-down video that highlights a portion of the interaction between the officer and Adam.
"At the time Adam was shot, he did not have a gun. OK?" his family's attorney, Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, told reporters Thursday afternoon. "In that slo-mo version (of one of the videos), whatever he had in his, in his hand, whether it was a gun or something else, there was something in his hand, he approaches the fence, he lets it go, he turns around, and he's shot. It could be a gun. I'm not going to deny that, that it could be a gun, but I can't tell you with 100% certainty, until I have that video forensically analyzed and enhanced. But it is not relevant, because he tossed the gun. If he had a gun, he tossed it."
“We want to thank COPA for giving the Toledo family the opportunity to review body camera video and other evidence before its public release," lawyer Joel Hirschhorn said.