Off-Duty Cop Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Man Was Said To Be Problem Neighbor

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jan 3, 2017 4:33PM

Update, 4:30 p.m.:
The shooting victim, Jose Nieves, died of multiple gunshot wounds and his manner of death was ruled homicide, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed with Chicagoist via email.

Original:
A man who was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer in Hermosa on Monday morning was unarmed, and the officer had had a confrontation with the victim weeks prior to the shooting, police said later on Monday. Family members also told media that the officer was a problem neighbor who had pulled a gun on the victim before.

The officer, who was assigned to a Mass Transit Unit, got into “an altercation with a male known to him” in the 2500 block of N. Lowell at around 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning, according to a police statement. The victim—identified by family in various news reports as 38-year-old Jose Nieves—was shot multiple times after the confrontation “escalated,” according to police. Nieves was then taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

"The person who was shot did not have a weapon. That much we know. The officer's weapon is the only one we found," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday.

Nieves’ sister, Angelica Nieves, told WGN that the officer lived downstairs from her brother and Jose had called 911 on him on numerous occasions in the past—including at least one in which the officer allegedly pulled his weapon on Jose Nieves.

"911 calls had been made before about that gentlemen pulling out his gun at my brother," Angelica Nieves said, according to WGN.

Angelica Nieves told media that the officer harassed Jose’s girlfriend while Jose was moving furniture into his residence on Monday morning. She said the officer shot the Nieves three times, including once in the back.

"I have a lot more questions than I do answers at this time," Johnson said on Monday, according to NBC reporters who attended a press briefing, "so I came out because I wanted to make sure the investigation was done properly. The chief of detectives is here to manage our part of the investigation. We have a parallel investigation going on right now with IPRA”

The incident was the second police shooting in two days.