- Credibility:
NORTH LAWNDALE — A 25-year-old man who police shot earlier this week is now facing felony gun charges.
Javontay Kindred, who was still hospitalized Wednesday afternoon, has been charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer and unlawfully possessing a weapon. Prosecutors said Kindred had a gun and ran toward police when an officer shot him — but a woman who said she is Kindred’s sister told the Sun-Times he did not have a gun and was trying to surrender.
A judge set Kindred’s bail at $750,000 during a hearing Wednesday.
The shooting happened about 11:35 a.m. Monday: Officers in an unmarked car saw a double-parked vehicle on the same block as the Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts, 2128 S. St. Louis Ave., and Kindred was standing outside the car with other people, a prosecutor said during Wednesday’s bail hearing.
Officers saw Kindred had a gun and asked him to approach them, but Kindred ran off, the prosecutor said.
Officers chased Kindred through a park and an alley before cornering him in an alley on St. Louis and Drake avenues, the prosecutor said. Kindred tried to point a gun at an officer, and an officer shot Kindred in his chest, the prosecutor said.
Kindred was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition. He was not at Wednesday’s hearing.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting. The officers involved have been placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days.
The agency released an update about the case Wednesday, saying in a news release two officers were patrolling the area when they saw a double-parked car with people standing nearby. One of the officers got out of their car, and a person — apparently referring to Kindred — ran away, according to the police watchdog agency. The news release does not mention an officer seeing Kindred with a gun at that time.
The two officers chased Kindred; one of them eventually saw Kindred running toward him in a vacant lot with a gun in his hand, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. As Kindred came closer, the officer shot once, hitting Kindred in his chest, according to the watchdog.
A gun was found at the scene, and there is body-camera footage of officers encountering Kindred and the shooting, according to the police watchdog. Material from the investigation will be posted online within 60 days of the shooting.
Ebony Chapman, who said she is Kindred’s sister, told the Sun-Times Kindred was unarmed when the officer shot him.
Foot chases leading to police shootings have increasingly come under scrutiny in recent years.
The Police Department issued a new foot chase policy in June in response to criticism that the chases have put officers, people being chased and bystanders at unnecessary risk. The policy change came after officers shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo and a young father, Anthony Alvarez, in separate chases just days apart in May 2021.
But the policy still widely allows officers to chase people.
Kindred was previously convicted of aggravated robbery in 2017 at a CTA station in Oak Park and of battering a government employee.
Staffers working for Safe Passage near Crown Community Academy on Tuesday said Kindred was once a student there. Shootings are difficult to deal with for the school’s young students, but staff do the best they can to uplift the kids, they said.
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