Photos: 600 Balloons Released To Honor Laquan McDonald & Gun Violence Victims

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 21, 2016 4:20PM

Two years since am unarmed black teenager named Laquan McDonald was gunned down by a Chicago cop, hundreds of protesters gathered near the Southwest Side site of his death to honor him and other gun violence victims. McDonald's death at the hands of now-disgraced cop Jason Van Dyke was not well known until last November, when the city released a video of the shooting that suggested his death was unlawful and had been covered up by police. He has since become a national symbol of the need for police accountability.

The event focused on both police violence against communities of color and gun violence in Chicago in general, and also touched on other high-profile police shooting deaths in the city, including Rekia Boyd and Ronald Johnson.

"Let this be an example to all those that say we only protest police shootings and not shootings in our neighborhoods," activist William Calloway said, before the group released 600 balloons into the air. Each balloon represented someone killed by gun violence in Chicago, organizers said.