CHICAGO — South Shore neighbors of Alfontish "Nunu" Cockerham have held several marches to protest what they consider aggressive policing after the 23-year-old was shot by police officers June 20. He died five days after.
One South Shore resident, who declined to be named, said that during the marches, friends and neighbors passed out whistles, which they hoped could combat what they considered excessive force used by police in the neighborhood.
"They are profiling us out here and harassing us, so we're wearing these [whistles] so when the police come around and they get aggressive, we blow the whistle so people can come out and videotape in case something happens," she said.
Video has proven instrumental in some cases of excessive police force when witness accounts differ from officers', most recently when police broke up a pool party in McKinney, Texas. Several neighbors told DNAinfo Chicago that witnesses said Cockerham had dropped his gun before he was shot by police.
Around 12:10 a.m. on June 20, officers responded to a call of men with guns in the 7000 block South Merrill Street, police said.
When officers arrived, Cockerham, who police said was armed with a gun, started running away, police said. During the chase, police said Cockerham pointed a gun at police, and an officer shot him.
Cockerham was taken to Northwestern for treatment, authorities said.
A weapon was recovered, and no other injuries were reported, police said. Though morgue officials listed Cockerham's home address as being in West Pullman, residents of the 7000 block of South Merrill Street said he lived near where he was shot.
The night of the shooting, Elaine Robinson, 67, said she was waiting for the bus when she noticed five men walking across the street.
"I heard them complaining, saying they were being harassed and followed by the police," Robinson said. "Then I see the police come by, and the group split up. ... The next thing I know, the boy is shot several times," Robinson said.
Residents said police cordoned off the block from the time of the shooting at midnight until noon.
"They had five or six cars several hours after the shooting just sitting around," said the resident who also described the whistle campaign. Cockerham "was gone by this time, and they still didn't let anyone pass through," she said, adding that they waited to get surveillance footage from nearby stores.
The resident, who often saw Cockerham on the block, called him "a typical young man" who was very respectful. "You know it's ugly out here, and not every day was a good day for him, but he was a good kid," she said.
"He had dropped the gun, and they still shot him," she said. "Don't they teach them to shoot and not kill? That was someone's kid, that was someone's brother."
"People who saw don't want to speak up about it, but f--- that," she said.
On Wednesday, Cockerham, who did not appear in court, was charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer with a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon, the Sun-Times reported.
According to the Sun-Times, Judge Laura Sullivan ordered him held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Cockerham had previous convictions for trying to disarm a police officer and aggravated battery of an officer, authorities said.
James Weeks, 62, said police are particularly aggressive in the neighborhood.
"They are getting rough out here," Weeks said. "I work around here, and I was picking up an empty liquor bottle, and a police officer pulled up and started yelling at me asking what I was doing? And I said, 'S--- I work here, I'm picking up the garbage.'"
Weeks said he understands the difficulty of police officers' jobs in a neighborhood plagued by violence, but said officers needed to curb their use of excessive force.
"I understand [the police] want to go home at the end of the day," Weeks said. "It's a rough neighborhood, and there are a bunch of a--holes out here, but some of the police officers go overboard."
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