Police fire 96 shots in 41 seconds, killing Black man during traffic stop

Dexter Reed’s mother remembers the last time she saw her son alive. “Mom, I’m going for a ride,” he told her, before heading out in the car that he had purchased just three days earlier.

Reed, 26, was killed that same day, when tactical-unit police officers fired 96 bullets at him within 41 seconds, according to Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, which investigates allegations of police misconduct and police shootings. “He was just riding around in his car,” Dexter’s mother, Nicole Banks, told Fox 32 Chicago on Tuesday, as she broke down in tears. “They killed him.”

COPA released video footage of the shooting Tuesday and said its investigation of the “officers’ use of deadly force” on March 21 remains ongoing.

According to COPA, police stopped Reed “for purportedly not wearing a seatbelt.” In several body-cam videos, multiple officers can be seen exiting an unmarked vehicle and surrounding Reed’s car, which had tinted windows.

The officers demand he unlock and open the door, and not to roll up the window.

“Upon stopping Mr. Reed, multiple officers surrounded his vehicle while giving verbal commands. When Mr. Reed did not comply with these commands, officers pointed their firearms at Mr. Reed,” COPA said.

Officers can be seen retreating as they ask Reed to exit the vehicle. Then, shots can be heard.

COPA said its review of the footage and initial reports “appear to confirm that Mr. Reed fired first,” hitting one officer while four others returned fire.

Reed can be seen staggering out of the vehicle before collapsing onto the road. As officers approach his motionless body, they can be heard telling Reed not to move. A pool of blood can be seen on the ground next to Reed as officers place him in handcuffs.

“Ultimately there was an exchange of gunfire which left Mr. Reed dead and an officer shot in the forearm,” COPA said, adding that a gun was recovered from the front passenger seat of Reed’s car.

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