The Laquan McDonald shooting occurred on the night of October 20, 2014 around 10:00 pm. Officer Jason Van Dyke of the Chicago Police Department fired 16 shots from a distance of about 10 feet, striking McDonald multiple times. Laquan was 17 at the time and attending high school on Chicago's west side, where he also resided. Throughout his life he lived with various relatives and in foster care because his mother was deemed unfit by the state to care for him. Laquan was a troubled child who had several run-ins with the juvenile system: school suspensions, expulsions, truancy and arrests for drug possession. Officer Van Dyke was 36 years old at the time of the incident and a 14-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. He is married with two children. The officer has 20 complaints filed against him by citizens of the city. Ten of those complaints allege he used excessive force during a traffic stop and two involve the use of a firearm. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay At around 10pm on the night of October 20, 2014, police were called to investigate someone carrying a knife and breaking into vehicles. When officers arrived on scene, they found McDonald and confronted him. He proceeded to slash one of the officer's tires on his patrol car and damage his windshield with the knife. McDonald refused orders to drop the knife and Taser backup was called. Reports say that when Officer Van Dyke arrived on scene, he exited his vehicle and began shooting within 6 seconds of arriving. The officer initially fired one shot, sending McDonald to the ground. While lying on the ground still holding the knife, Van Dyke emptied the rest of his magazine into McDonald's. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead at 10:42 p.m. The autopsy report for McDonald found that he had been shot in the neck, chest, back, both arms, right leg and had been grazed in the head. As previously stated, McDonald suffered 16 gunshot wounds, 9 of which were to his back. PCP was found in the McDonald's system. The dash-cams of several officers present at the scene had been tampered with, more specifically the audio. The FBI and the state attorney's office led the criminal investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office also intervened because there were discrepancies between the initial police report and the dash cam video. For example, the report stated that McDonald lunged at an officer, but the video showed nothing of the sort. However, the video shows McDonald swinging the knife and walking away from police as Van Dyke opens fire on him. Officer Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder on November 24, 2015. He turned himself in and spent 6 days in the Cook County Jail until he was released on bail set at $1,500,000. (Van Dyke posted %10) On December 16, he was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct. On December 29, Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to the charges. I believe the status of the process is still ongoing. If Van Dyke is found guilty, he faces a sentence of 20 years to life in state prison. This case is also the first time in 35 years that a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with an on-duty incident. Several protests followed the video's release in November. As of March 23, 2017, the charges against Officer Van Dyke were six counts..