The man fatally shot by police during a street stop in Old Town over the weekend fired a gun toward officers before they returned fire and killed him, Chicago’s police oversight agency said in a press release Tuesday. The exchange of gunfire came after one of the officers deployed his Taser twice, but the device’s prongs “did not appear to make contact” with the subject, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
During a press conference hours after the shooting, CPD Supt. David Brown said shell casings that did not match the officer’s weapon were found at the shooting scene, but he would not say if the man fired shots at police.
A source familiar with the investigation said Chicago police leadership knew at the time of the press conference that the deceased man had fired shots because the involved officers’ body cameras had been reviewed before the press conference.
On Wednesday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the deceased man as Antonio Fitzgerald Calmese, 20, of the 900 block of North Cambridge.
The incident began around 5:05 a.m. Sunday after someone approached patrol officers to report that a man had pointed a gun at them, according to Brown and COPA. The officers located a suspect near Evergreen and Hudson, but he ran away. Officials said that officers searched the area, found the man again, and began to chase him on foot.
At some point, an officer deployed their Taser two times without effect, COPA said, and the suspect fired his gun toward the officers as he continued to flee. An officer returned fire, killing the man in the 400 block of West Blackhawk, according to COPA.
The agency said body cameras and third-party surveillance video recorded the initial interaction and the shooting. Videos and other materials are expected to be released within 60 days.
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