Health worker releases Adam Toledo post-mortem particulars

Police, paramedics, and another district investigator initially believed 13-year-old Adam Toledo – a seventh grader who weighed 91 pounds and was 5 feet tall – was at least 20 years old when a Chicago police officer shot him and killed him in March city- and circle documents.

The Chicago Sun-Times reviewed the medical examiner’s autopsy report, a medical examiner’s investigation report from the location of the shooting, a report from the Chicago Fire Department, and an incident report from the Chicago Police Department.

A Chicago police officer fatally shot and killed Adam in the early hours of March 29 after chasing him in an alley next to Farragut Career Academy in Little Village. A gun was found near where Adam was shot.

Police were in the area responding to a ShotSpotter shot detector alarm. The fatal encounter was captured on police-worn body cameras and was made available to the public in April which initiated mass protest and national attention.

Latino guide earlier this week called for a moratorium on police foot tracking and last month called that too Department of Justice investigates Adam’s shooting.

The autopsy report concluded that Adam was killed by a single bullet that entered the left side of his chest and exited the right side of his back. No “soot or gunpowder particles” were found on his clothing. Police also took clothing samples to test for gunshot debris before the autopsy began, but no results were presented to the Sun-Times.

Adam had a tattoo on his right wrist, according to the medical examiner, but no photos were included in the autopsy documents provided to the Sun-Times.

Adam was shot dead at 2:38 a.m. on March 29 and pronounced dead by the CFD paramedics on arrival at 2:46 a.m.

Chicago police reported Adam’s death at 4:09 a.m. – 83 minutes after CFD pronounced him dead – in the medical examiner’s office. This is evident from a case report from a medical examiner.

A police spokesman declined to comment on why it took officers so long to notify the medical examiner’s office of the shooting, but noted that death scenes develop differently.

For example, if someone dies of natural causes, officials can usually report the death to the medical examiner much faster than if it was a gunshot death that requires more investigation.

According to a district ordinance, however, the police must inform the medical examiner “immediately” and “within one hour of the death being known” about deaths.

The medical examiner’s investigation report also leaves some questions about how long the examiner was on site. The investigator was unable to document when they arrived at the scene or when they left.

A spokeswoman for the doctor’s office said Thursday that the investigator had enough time to take photos of the scene and gather other information, but could not say when they had arrived.

The investigator documented that Adam was fatally shot by police after officers responded to “a fire call”. At the time of reporting, Adam’s identity was “Unknown” – Adam had no ID with him. The investigator also listed Adam as between 21 and 30 years old.

That estimate of Adam’s age would not change until he was finally identified two days later, on March 31st.

Ruben Roman, a 21-year-old man who was in the alley that night, was arrested not long before Adam was shot. He gave Adam a false name and also denied knowing himsaid a Cook County attorney. That hampered efforts to identify Adam, CPD Supt. David Brown said.

According to the original CPD incident report, the investigator from the doctor’s office gave permission to move Adam’s body from the crime scene. He was picked up at 5:02 am and arrived at the morgue 19 minutes later.