Chicago police are looking to fire five officers who were involved in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, The Guardian reports.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has filed administrative charges against five officers, including Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot Laquan 16 times. As CNN notes, with his criminal indictment, Van Dyke became the first Chicago officer to be charged with first-degree murder since 1980. He has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder.
The other four facing administrative charges are Police Officers Janet Mondragon, Daphne Sebastian and Ricardo Viramontes and Police Sgt. Stephen Franko.
All five officers are accused of falsifying police reports and lying to investigators about Laquan's death, according to the charges Johnson filed, The Guardian notes. Four of the officers involved also face misconduct charges regarding their handling of the police dashboard cameras.
The Chicago Police Board will be hearing the cases and deciding if the officers will be fired. An initial status hearing is scheduled for Sept. 19.
According to CNN, the city's Office of the Inspector General had previously recommended that eight officers be fired, but at least two of those officers have already retired, and the CPD disagreed with the recommendation to terminate one other officer at the time.
Dashcam footage of Laquan's shooting death showed the teenager walking away from police as he held a small knife—contrary to claims by police that the teen had lunged at them with the weapon. Van Dyke exited his vehicle some six seconds after arriving on the scene and fired at the teen multiple times. CNN reports that Van Dyke fired every round from his gun in 15 seconds.
The footage of the incident was only released to the public 400 days later, after objections in the city that prompted a judge to order its release. The shocking footage further enraged members of the public, who protested while calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city leaders to step down. Last December, Emanuel announced that he had asked then-Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign and that McCarthy had done so.
The U.S. Department of Justice has since launched an investigation into the Chicago Police Department.
Read more at The Guardian and CNN.