Video shows officers firing on 18-year-old in NW Side traffic stop

Authorities have released video showing Chicago Police officers opening fire on an 18-year-old man after he allegedly pointed a gun at them during a traffic stop earlier this summer in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Saul Flores was shot in the arm, thigh and hip about five minutes after officers pulled him over about 3 a.m. on July 16 near his home in the 2800 block of North Mulligan, according to case files released Thursday by the Independent Police Review Authority.

Officers pulled over a Mercury Sable with expired license plates after the driver made a turn without a signal, an arrest report says. Flores was in the back seat on the driver’s side, according to police, though it’s unclear how many people were in the car.

One of the officers noticed a gun on the floorboard of the car and told Flores not to touch it, the report says. Flores threw the Glock out the window, then got out of the car and picked it up, according to police.

Over repeated commands to step away, Flores picked up the gun and pointed it at police, before Officer Michael A. Rodriguez and Sergeant Sean M. Ronan opened fire, reports say.

Police dashcam video shows the officers tail the sedan down an alley, where it stops near a garage, with the driver and passengers out of view.

About a minute after the car stops, an officer can be heard yelling “Do not reach for the gun.” An officer appears to be holding a passenger at gunpoint, and more shouting can be heard for a few minutes as more officers arrive.

Two gunshots then go off as police yell for someone to “get away from the gun.” A sergeant is then seen firing at least eight rounds toward the car.

Commander Elgin Holt signed off on tactical response reports, saying the use of force was within department guidelines.

Flores was treated at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Bullets went through his arm and thigh, but one lodged in his hip, reports show. No officers were hurt.

Flores did not appear in court until more than a month after the shooting, when he pleaded not guilty to a litany of felony charges including aggravated assault of a peace officer with a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon, court records show.

He was released on electronic home monitoring after posting 10 percent of a $75,000 bond, records show. He is next scheduled to appear in court in Skokie on Oct. 4.

The officers were put on desk duty for 30 days, per CPD policy.

IPRA released the files a day before the police misconduct investigation agency is set to be replaced by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.