MOUNT GREENWOOD — The 25-year-old Indiana man killed by police after a traffic dispute in Mount Greenwood Saturday was seen pointing a gun before he was shot, according to Chicago Police.
Police said they verified the video and images from the scene showing Joshua Beal pointing a gun during the confrontation that ended with the 25-year-old man being killed by off-duty police.
Beal, of Indianapolis, was shot near 111th Street and Troy Avenue at 3 p.m. Saturday during a traffic dispute that involved two off-duty officers and an off-duty firefighter, police said.
CPD detectives have authenticated the private cell phone video and photographs from yesterday's. incident in 22nd District.
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) November 7, 2016
At least two guns were fired during the scuffle, according to the Independent Police Review Authority. As many as 12 shots can be heard in video footage captured by eyewitnesses to the fatal shooting.
It is not clear whose guns were fired, said Mia Sissac, spokeswoman for the Independent Police Review Authority.
"IPRA investigators are in talks with several eyewitnesses and are taking steps to authenticate the videos and images that have been widely circulated," Sissac said in a statement. "It is our hope that people wait until all evidence is brought to light before making any conclusions about what happened [Saturday] evening."
RELATED: Activists Feel Like They Were 'Back In The 60s' At Beal Protest, They Say
Video taken at the scene shows at least a dozen people in the middle of 111th Street yelling at each other. A man can be seen with his gun drawn and pointed at the crowd of people arguing.
The camera drops as shots ring out. The video captures multiple shots being fired, then a brief pause before more shooting.
Beal was in a procession of cars returning from a funeral when he stopped in front of a firehouse on 111th Street, according to a police statement following the incident.
The firefighter told Beal that he was blocking access to the fire house when the confrontation started. An off-duty officer in a nearby business joined in on the confrontation, according to reports.
A police sergeant driving to work saw the fight and saw a man with a gun, police said in a statement.
The sergeant stopped, got out of his car, drew his gun and said he was police, the statement said. The situation "continued to escalate" and Beal refused to drop his gun before "shots were fired striking the individual multiple times," the statement said.
Beal was previously convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge after a 2009 Indiana road-rage incident, court records show. The conviction was upheld after Beal appealed.
In that incident, another man rear-ended Beal's car and then drove off, court records show. Beal drove after the car and told the driver, Porfiro Mendosa, to pay him at least $660 for the damage, court records show.
"When Mendosa could not pay the amount Beal wanted, Beal pulled out a gun and hit Mendosa on the forehead above his right eye with it. Beal then demanded Mendosa sign over the title to Mendosa's truck," prosecutors said.
Beal's death on Saturday drew black activists to the neighborhood, and some said they were taunted and threatened as they visited the scene.
A planned protest Sunday was met with an even larger pro-police showing that numbered into the hundreds and hurled racist insults at the dozen or so black activists, who said they felt like they were "back in the 60s" in Mount Greenwood.
The incidents led two public schools in Mount Greenwood to beef up security Monday morning.
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