Prosecutor recounts 16 shots Chicago cop fired at black teen

Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke listens before his first-degree murder trial in the Oct. 20, 2014 fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old, Laquan McDonald, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Chicago. Opening statements are expected Monday. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke listens before his first-degree murder trial in the Oct. 20, 2014 fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old, Laquan McDonald, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Chicago. Opening statements are expected Monday. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)

CHICAGO (AP) — Prosecutors on Monday showed jurors video of a white Chicago police officer opening fire on Laquan McDonald, dramatically recounting the 16 shots fired into the black teenager and calling the 2014 shooting “completely unnecessary.”

Jurors saw video of the shooting three times during the first day of Jason Van Dyke’s murder trial, including during the prosecution’s opening statement. The recordings showed the officer shooting McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014, as the 17-year-old, carrying a small knife in one hand, walks away from officers. The video’s release about a year after the shooting sparked large protests, the ouster of the police superintendent and demands for police reform.

“He shot him … not once, not twice, but three, four, five, six seven, eight — he’s only half way done — nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 times in total,” special prosecutor Joseph McMahon told jurors, rapping his knuckles on a lectern each time he said a number.

“Not a single shot was necessary or justified,” he said at another point in his opening statement.

However, defense attorney Daniel Herbert argued Van Dyke “is not a murderer. … He is a scared police officer who was fearful for his life and the life of others and acted as he was trained to do.”

Herbert also argued the number of shots fired was irrelevant: “They didn’t charge him with shooting too many times. They charged him with first-degree murder.”

Herbert painted a picture of McDonald as a crazed teenager who had attacked a truck driver and a squad car and had tried to get into two restaurants. He said McDonald had flicked his folding knife open when Van Dyke pulled up.

McDonald was “planning to attack” again, Herbert said. “He’s not trying to escape.”

Prosecutors have stressed Van Dyke was the only officer to fire his gun, and the first person to testify was another officer who had pursued McDonald that night.