Quintonio LeGrier's family remembers him 9 years after Chicago cop fired fatal shots

CHICAGO - Thursday marked nine years since of the killing of Quintonio LeGrier. He was 19-years-old when he was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer.

In 2015, LeGrier was experiencing a mental health crisis. Police arrived and Officer Robert Rialmo shot and killed LeGrier and his neighbor, 55-year-old Bettie Jones.

Rialmo claimed LeGrier was attacking him with a bat when he fired the shots. He was fired in 2019.

Rialmo tried getting his job back in 2022, but a court rejected the effort.

At a ceremony on Thursday, LeGrier's mother reflected on her son's life.

"He called three times, 9-1-1, not once, not twice, but three times to plead for help. And when help came out, (they) took his life and Bettie Jones," said Janet Cooksey, LeGrier's mother. "And for nine years I wondered how I was going to make it through another day. Each year seems to get harder. I was like, this is supposed to be easier."

A jury initially granted LeGrier's family $1 million in a wrongful death case, but a judge overturned that decision.

The Chicago City Council, however, awarded Jones' family $16 million.