The man shot by a Chicago police officer on Monday afternoon ran directly toward the cop with a loaded gun in his hand and was “within arm’s reach” when the officer fired, prosecutors said during a court hearing Wednesday.
Javontay Kindred, 25, remained hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his chest as officials charged him with aggravated assault of a peace officer and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutor Lorraine Scaduto said two plainclothes Chicago police officers stopped their unmarked Ford Explorer in the 2100 block of South St. Louis at 11:35 a.m. because a car was double-parked with several people standing around it.
One officer saw an “L-shaped object consistent with a firearm” in Kindred’s jacket pocket, and the cop asked Kindred to come over to their car, according to Scaduto.
Instead, Kindred ran down an alley, followed by one of the officers. The second officer ran down the street parallel to the alley and encountered Kindred as Kindred cut back toward the street through a vacant lot, Scaduto said.
The officer’s body camera footage shows Kindred pointing the muzzle of the gun toward the officer and running straight at the cop with the weapon in his hand, Scaduto alleged.
When Kindred was “within arms reach,” the officer fired one shot, she said.
According to Scaduto, body camera footage shows Kindred falling to the ground and dropping his loaded firearm in the parkway. She said an officer immediately radioed that police had shot someone and requested an ambulance. They then began taking lifesaving measures to save Kindred.
Scaduto said Kindred was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2017.
In 2015, while in the Cook County juvenile detention center awaiting trial for allegedly attacking a different robbery victim with a hammer, Kindred attacked a youth development specialist, Scaduto said. The specialist needed stitches to close a gash over his eye after Kindred punched him in the face three times.
And in April 2021, while on bail for engaging in reckless conduct during the May 2020 riots, Kindred allegedly sped away from Chicago police, striking two squad cars and three other vehicles in traffic, Scaduto said. He was charged with felony fleeing and eluding, but prosecutors later dropped the case.
Prosecutors did not ask Judge Barbara Dawkins to hold Kindred without bail on Wednesday, apparently because state law would have barred Dawkins from granting the request since he was not present for the hearing.
Instead, Dawkins set bail at $750,000, meaning Kindred would have to post $75,000 to be released from custody. Prosecutors may pursue the no-bail request when he is discharged from the hospital.
