A Chicago cop fatally shot a black teen who he says pointed a gun at him during a foot chase. But no gun was found — until 3 months later
CHICAGO - Chicago police Sgt. John Poulos told investigators he fatally shot 19-year-old Kajuan Raye in the back after the teen twice pointed a gun at him during a foot chase on the South Side.
But police found no gun by Raye or along the approximately two-block route of the chase in spite of extensive searches by dozens of officers that night and the next day in November 2016.
Nearly three months later, a resident raking leaves outside his West Englewood home - located along the circuitous path taken by Raye - discovered a silver-and-black semi-automatic handgun under bushes in his small front yard.
The find turned out to be critical evidence in the Civilian Office of Police Accountability's controversial decision clearing Poulos of wrongdoing. While conceding that it was "troubled" by the lengthy passage of time that the gun had gone missing, COPA still concluded it was "likely and reasonable" that Raye had possessed the weapon as he fled on foot.
The ruling marks the second time that Poulos, who is white, has been cleared in a fatal shooting of a black man. In the first shooting, which happened in 2013, an off-duty Poulos thought 28-year-old Rickey Rozelle was armed when he saw him holding a shiny object near his waist, but
