Photos: Marchers Fill The Loop To Decry The Police Shooting Of Paul O'Neal

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Aug 8, 2016 3:45PM

Hundreds of Chicagoans rallied downtown Sunday evening to march against police brutality and call for justice for Paul O'Neal, a black teenager who was fatally shot in the back by police officers earlier this month. Organized by the city's youth chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, the marchers charted a course around the Loop while drawing attention to O'Neal's extrajudicial killing.

O'Neal was killed after he allegedly drove a stolen Jaguar into two police cars while fleeing police, and then continued to flee on foot. Gruesome video showing the circumstances before and after O'Neal's shooting, including police literally standing on his limp, bloody body, were released by the Independent Police Review Authority Friday morning. The body camera worn by the officer accused of shooting O'Neal did not record the shooting, according to police, but other body cam and dash cam footage was available.

Our photographer Tyler LaRiviere was on hand Sunday evening to give us an on-the-ground view of the march. The march, organized by four young, black women, started at 4 p.m. in Millennium Park, and lasted for well over four hours as it traversed the Loop and Near North Side. Afterwards, a smaller march splintered off and headed to Lake Shore Drive, where it temporarily blocked traffic on the drive.