Oversight officials released video footage Thursday that shows Chicago police officers shooting a man armed with a knife in the lobby of a River North hotel last year.
Prosecutors later said the shooting left Demond Williams with “limited brain activity” and that doctors didn’t expect him to recover. Williams died July 26, but his cause and manner of death haven’t been released, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
After the shooting, Williams was charged with felony counts of aggravated assault of a peace officer and illegal weapon possession that were dropped a month before he died, according to Cook County court records. A court order in the case had barred the Civilian Office of Police Accountability from releasing videos and reports related to the shooting.
The newly released video footage shows that officers first encountered Williams in the lobby of a building in the 100 block of West Hubbard Street on April 7, 2025. He then fled to a convenience store and was ultimately chased into the Courtyard by Marriott hotel at 30 E. Hubbard St., where he got into an elevator and a standoff ensued.
When one officer fired a Taser at Williams, another cop noted that Williams’ layers of clothing may have prevented the shock, the video shows. At least a dozen officers stood outside the elevator, with some calling Williams by his name and urging him to drop a knife and throw it outside of the elevator.
When Williams left the elevator, four officers deployed Tasers and two officers shot him, according to the records. Six shots rang out, and Williams turned back into the elevator and fell to the ground.
Officers handcuffed him and rendered aid after pulling him out of the elevator by his legs, video shows. Paramedics arrived six minutes after the shooting.
Williams was struck in his upper body and rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, along with two officers who were taken as a precaution. A knife was recovered at the scene, police said at the time.