Chicago Cover-Up Deepens as 80 Minutes of Footage Confirmed Missing

Chicago’s cover-up scandal is deepening after city officials were forced to release additional surveillance footage of the deadly shooting of 17-year-old African American Laquan McDonald by a white officer—and it showed an unexplained 80-minute gap covering the time the teenager was killed.

The missing footage aligns with the account of Jay Darshane, the manager of the Burger King that is located roughly 50 yards from the killing, who told a grand jury in November that police tampered with the restaurant’s surveillance system, erasing roughly 86 minutes of footage. In addition, the manager told the Chicago Tribune that the FBI confiscated the restaurant’s surveillance images.

The footage itself was only released to the Chicago Tribune Thursday night after numerous Freedom of Information Act requests. The paper reports that all surveillance footage from 12 angles both within and outside of the Burger King has a gap of roughly 80 minutes. This gap covers the time when McDonald was shot by white police officer Jason Van Dyke.

In the part of the footage that immediately follows the gap, a police officer wearing a bullet-proof vest can be seen sitting at a computer in the back of the Burger King while another walks around.

Since officer Van Dyke killed McDonald with 16 shots while the teen was attempting to walk away on October 20, 2014, the city has vigorously opposed public release of footage showing the shooting.

In fact, officials only released the chilling video (warning: disturbing footage) of the killing in late November—more than a year after the shooting—when they were forced to by a lawsuit issued by independent journalist Brandon Smith. Van Dyke was indicted for first-degree murder hours before the footage was released by the city.