White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has branded the shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo as "chilling", and a reminder that "too often in this country law enforcement uses unnecessary force."
Yesterday (Friday, April 16), Chicago police released bodycam footage showing the moment the Latino teenager was fatally shot by an officer in a dark alley on March 29.
BBC News states that the cop can be heard shouting "drop it", before they shoot Toledo once in the chest.
Officers were in pursuit of Toledo and 21-year-old Ruben Romain after receiving reports of gunfire in the Little Village area of the city.
Prior to being shot, Toledo can be seen being chased by an officer, who shouts: "Police! Stop! Stop right [expletive] now! Hands! Hands! Show me your [expletive] hands!"
The footage appears to show Toledo holding up both hands prior to being shot.
"Shots fired, shots fired. Get an ambulance over here now," the officer says in the video, as he urged the boy to "stay awake".
The video also shows police finding a handgun near the spot where the teenager was killed.
Per The Independent, speaking at a press conference on Friday, Psaki responded to the heartbreaking bodycam footage.
Psaki told reporters: "I will say for those of us who did watch that video, it is certainly chilling.
"And a reminder that across the country there are far too communities where there is violence that is impacting... that too often in this country law enforcement uses unnecessary force, too often resulting in the death of Black and brown Americans."
Psaki also spoke about how President Joe Biden is currently working to move forward with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
The Press Secretary described the act as a "long-overdue reform", adding:
"But it also will require Congress moving forward, and sometimes that is a process. It can be unsatisfying. It can take longer than we all think it should.
"But in order to get enough members together to support police reforms, we feel that the George Floyd Act is the right step forward."
The footage of Toledo's fatal shooting was released a week after unarmed Black man Daunte Wright, 20, was fatally shot by former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter.
The 48-year-old ex-cop was taken into custody on the morning of Wednesday, April 14, and charged with second-degree manslaughter and later released from the Hennepin County Jail on a $100,000 bail.