Man shot to death by Chicago Police officer on South Side

A man who pointed a gun at an officer was fatally shot by police late Thursday in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, officials said.

Martice Milliner, 27, was fatally shot in the 7500 block of South Langley, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

About 11:30 p.m., police received a call of a person with a gun. The caller described the person as a man wearing a black leather Blackhawks hat, according to Pat Camden, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.

Officers were nearby at the time, and when they found a group of people in the block, including one who matched the description of the man with a gun, they got out of their squad car and tried to stop him, Chicago Police Deputy Chief Carlos Velez told reporters at the scene.

After officers arrived, one of the men started to “quickly” walk away, and an officer grabbed him by the collar to restrain him, Velez said.

After the officer grabbed him, the man reached in his waistband and started to pull out a gun, and the officer then shot him, Velez said.

Once he was shot, he fell to the ground. As he was lying on his side, he grabbed the gun again and pointed it at the officer, who then shot him again, Camden said.

Milliner, of the 9100 block of South Green, was taken to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was dead on arrival, authorities said.

A semi-automatic handgun was also recovered at the scene, Camden said.

The Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates all officer-involved shootings, will handle the case.

Neighbors said the man had lived in the neighborhood his whole life.

Despite the police department and rank-and-file officer union accounts that the officer fired only two shots, nearby residents said they heard between three and five. Friends of the dead man’s sister said he showed up at Jackson Park Hospital with five gunshot wounds.

Beverly Joseph — who has lived a half block south of the shooting for 22 years — was among the dozen people standing on the southeast corner of 76th and Langley as authorities investigated the scene.

Joseph, 63, said the relationship between area residents and the police who patrol the area is adversarial.

“The police don’t want to mingle,” she said “They just want to antagonize us and make us afraid. I’m more concerned about the police than the thugs.”

“Ain’t no ‘Officer Friendly’ in our neighborhoods,” she said.

Joseph also said that if the account of the shooting given by authorities is true, she understands the fatal outcome.

“I don’t know if he had a gun or not. If he did, and they saw it, they did what they had to do,” she said.

Despite occasional nearby gun violence, Joseph said her block is tight-knit and she would not be driven out of her home.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I’ll die here.”