The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has made a charging decision in the 2024 shooting of Dexter Reed by Chicago police officers.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke will announce a charging decision in the case on Wednesday afternoon.

In that March 21, 2024 shooting, a Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigation determined that Reed, who had been pulled over for “purportedly not wearing a seatbelt,” had fired shots at Chicago police officers who were part of a tactical unit in the city’s 11th District.

Those officers then returned fire, with COPA finding that a total of 96 shots were fired at Reed, who was struck 13 times. One of the officers fired at least 50 times and reloaded multiple times, according to the COPA report.

The shooting raised serious questions about police actions, including the reasoning behind stopping Reed in the first place.

Andrew Stroth, an attorney for the family, called it an unconstitutional police stop with plainclothes officers who did not announce they were police. He said the family wants to see a swift investigation and for the department to better comply with a court-supervised reform plan.

“We’re asking for a collective commitment from the city and community stakeholders to advance change,” Stroth said during the press conference.

According to the COPA report on the shooting, five officers assigned to an 11th District tactical unit pulled Reed over on March 21, 2024 in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand for “purportedly not wearing a seatbelt.”

As the group stopped Reed, multiple officers surrounded the vehicle and asked Reed to roll down his windows. Officers then shouted at Reed not to roll the windows back up, and to unlock his doors.

As the shouts continued, gunfire began.

COPA’s report found that “review of video footage and initial reports appears to confirm that Mr. Reed fired first, striking the officer and four officers returned fire.”

Warning: the following video could be disturbing to some viewers. Discretion is advised: Footage from an officer, one of several bodycam videos released in connection with the fatal shooting of Dexter Reed Jr., shows the moments that unfolded as a traffic stop turned deadly in Chicago last month.

What did the COPA-released video footage show?

There was not clear footage of Reed firing a weapon, though a gun was recovered from Reed’s vehicle, according to police.

While the videos released offered a more detailed account of what happened than what police initially said last month, activists and families members questioned the authorities’ account of the shooting, looking for answers about why Reed was pulled over, and why the incident escalated so fast.

In total, officers fired roughly 96 shots in 41 seconds, some of which continued after Reed got out of the vehicle and fell to the ground, COPA reported. Video evidence recorded dozens of shots fired within that time, though it’s not clear which are from officers and which are from Reed. Dozens of bullet holes can be seen in Reed’s vehicle.

A man calling 911 to report the shooting described it as “shooting like they’re having a Vietnam War.”

In the barrage of gunfire, one officer can be seen on his own body camera unloading and reloading multiple magazines into his gun.

He later remarks to a fellow officer: “Did he start shooting at us?”

A female officer replies: “Don’t say anything. Do you hear me? Be quiet.”

Reed exits the vehicle and slumps to the ground, ending up facedown with his head near the rear passenger wheel and wearing only one shoe. Blood trails into a nearby gutter.

“Don’t move! Don’t move!” the officers scream at Reed, lifting up bloody slumping hands in search of a gun but not finding one. They handcuff him as he remains facedown and unmoving.

Reed suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was later pronounced dead. One officer was shot in the wrist and was last reported to be in good condition, CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said at the time.

Multiple other officers were transported to the hospital for observation and were reported to be in good condition.

A surveillance camera owned by the city of Chicago was not functioning properly at the time and did not record the fatal police shooting of Dexter Reed, NBC Chicago’s Bennett Haeberle reports.

A nearby camera wasn’t recording at the time of the shooting

NBC 5 Investigates has learned a Chicago Police Department surveillance camera, located just feet from where police fatally shot Reed, wasn’t working at the time of the deadly encounter.

COPA said the POD camera in close proximity to the deadly shooting had a “defect” that allowed it to livestream, but meant it failed to record video of the incident.

A week before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released the videos from the shooting of Dexter Reed, the head of COPA, Andrea Kersten, crafted a letter calling on Chicago’s police superintendent to strip the four officers of their police powers.

In the letter, COPA’s chief administrator said she questions the validity of the officers’ stories – stating it seems unclear how the officers knew Dexter Reed wasn’t wearing a seatbelt given their location to him and the dark tint on his SUV windows.

Kersten also wrote she has “grave concerns” about the officers’ ability to determine what is necessary and reasonable deadly force. 

In the days before the March 21 fatal shooting of Dexter Reed by Chicago police, the same tactical officers involved in the Reed shooting were busy conducting at least 50 traffic stops in west Chicago – with very little result. NBC Chicago’s Bennett Haeberle reports.

Questions arise about the 11th District’s police operations

An NBC 5 Investigates’ review of Chicago Police data found that officers in the 11th police district – where this shooting took place – use force more than any other police district in all of Chicago.

The department’s own data shows there have been at least 62 use of force incidents this year alone.

In fact, since 2020, the 11th district has outpaced all other police districts when it comes to use of force.

Now COPA appears to be investigating whether the traffic stops that preceded the Reed shooting were “unjustified,” according to the copy of records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates.

A CPD spokesman told NBC 5 Investigates Wednesday that the tactical units remain in use and that officers involved in the Reed shooting remain on administrative duty while COPA investigates. Beyond that, the spokesman declined to answer NBC 5 Investigates’ additional questions.

“What you found is what we’ve complained about in the lawsuit called Wilkins v. the City of Chicago,” said Alexandra Block with the ACLU of Illinois.

Block said our findings largely mirror their allegations – which is that drivers have been targeted because of their race and that the actual stops are largely ineffective – rarely resulting in contraband.

“It’s very typical of what tactical teams throughout CPD have been doing for years, which is high volume, low yield traffic stops,” she said.

The ACLU argues in its lawsuit against the City of Chicago that between 2016 and 2020, 99.5 percent of CPD traffic stops did not result in the finding of any contraband.

A controversial police shooting has become a flash-point in the debate over settlements for allegations of police misconduct. Dexter Reed was shot and killed by police after firing at officers first. NBC Chicago’s Charlie Wojciechowski talked to aldermen raising questions about a potential $1 million settlement.

A settlement paused by the Chicago City Council

The city’s law department recommended a $1.25 million settlement to Reed’s family in the wake of the shooting, but the Chicago City Council did not vote on the measure in February.

Last week, he had said the case “is about the unlawful and violent, escalatory traffic stop in a city that has a pattern and practice of these types of discriminatory, pre-textual stops,” Stroth told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement, but did not comment further on the decision.