Letter: Let Chicago cops do their jobs

In the early hours of March 29, 2021, Chicago Police Officer Evan Solano engaged in a foot pursuit of Anthony Alvarez, who had a gun in his hand and was running away from the officer.

Officer Solano then gave multiple orders for Alvarez to drop the gun and to stop running.

Then Alvarez made a slight turn toward the officer who did what any officer would do - he shot Alvarez to end the potential threat of great bodily harm or even death.

Was Solano supposed to wait until Alvarez fired a shot at him?

So after an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the Cook County State's Attorney, the shooting was found to be justified.

So when does the responsibility fall with the criminal and not the police officer?

Why would COPA recommend Officer Solano be fired?

Police Superintendent David Brown disagreed with the firing and gave Solano a 20-day suspension instead. Why? Because Solano didn't activate his body camera at the very beginning of the pursuit and the shooting was then caught on the body camera?

Stop with the silliness and let the police do their job as needed. Everything moves very fast in a situation such as this, and the officer may have not had the forethought to immediately activate his body camera at the very moment and must likely it was not malicious.

And city officials wonder why they're having hundreds of officers retiring or quitting the force to go elsewhere to work.

John Moravecek

Naperville