Police had no choice but to shoot man pointing gun, alderman says

Chicago Police officers had no choice but to shoot a man pointing a gun in their direction after an apparent road rage case involving a firefighter and a family that had just left a cemetery after burying a loved one, the local alderman said Monday.

Alderman Matt O'Shea (19th) bemoaned the racial tension triggered by the police shooting of 25-year-old Joshua Beal of Indianapolis, who was in Chicago to bury a cousin at Mount Hope Cemetery on the far Southwest Side.

But O'Shea defended the actions of police officers who apparently rushed to the aide of a Chicago firefighter and fired the shots that killed Beal.

It happened after a heated "verbal and physical" argument triggered by the firefighter's warning that someone in the funeral procession was illegally blocking a fire lane.

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