Another video of Chicago police shooting black man released

The prosecutor’s office in Cook County, Illinois has released a video of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a young African American man, the second such video to be released in as many weeks.

The video was released on Monday by the Cook County State Attorney's Office following an effort by the family of 25-year-old Ronald Johnson to force the city of Chicago to make public the footage that they say shows an officer shooting him in the back.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said Monday that no criminal charges will be filed against officer George Hernandez, who shot and killed Johnson in October 2014.

Alvarez said Johnson was armed with a loaded gun at the time of the shooting.

Attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents Johnson's mother, Dorothy Holmes, contended that police planted the weapon after shooting an unarmed Johnson.

Johnson's mother, who has seen the video, has said that it proved her son was murdered. She and her lawyer had pushed authorities to make the video public.

Johnson's shooting bores striking similarities to the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a different officer eight days later.

A police dashcam video released last month shows McDonald being shot 16 times for 15 seconds by white police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014.

Van Dyke, 37, was charged with first-degree murder on the same day the video was released. He has been ordered to remain in detention without bond and faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

The video has sparked days of protests in Chicago and cost the city’s police commissioner his job.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday that the US Department of Justice will investigate the Chicago Police Department following protests over the city's handling of McDonald's killing.

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