Killing of Anthony Alvarez

On March 31, 2021, Anthony Alvarez, a 22-year-old Latino man and father from Chicago, was shot and killed by Chicago Police Department Officer Evan Solano in the Portage Park neighborhood on the city's Northwest Side. According to body camera footage released by police on April 28, 2021, Solano pursued Alvarez on foot along Laramie Avenue following what Mayor Lori Lightfoot described as a minor traffic violation. On the sidewalk at Laramie and Eddy, Solano observed a gun in Alvarez's hand, shouted "Drop the gun!" twice, and then fired five shots in quick succession, striking Alvarez in the back. Alvarez's final words were reportedly "Why are you shooting me?", to which Solano replied "You had a gun." Alvarez was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The release of the footage made Alvarez's death the third high-profile release that month of video showing police killing a young Latino person, following the cases of Adam Toledo and Mario Gonzalez. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) opened an investigation into the shooting, with a spokesperson recommending Solano be relieved of police powers during the investigation's pendency. On March 15, 2022, the Cook County State's Attorney's office announced that while Solano and his partner "created the conditions" necessitating the use of deadly force, the office would not file criminal charges in the shooting.

Alvarez's family publicly mourned his death. His father said he wanted answers about why the shooting occurred, and his aunt described the killing as unjust at a public protest. On May 1, 2021, approximately one hundred people marched through Portage Park from West Irving Park Road and North Central Avenue to the site of Alvarez's death, chanting slogans including "Hands up, don't shoot." Alvarez's daughter was among the protesters, holding a sign reading "I miss my daddy."

The case drew responses from civic institutions and public officials. The ACLU called for a new foot-pursuit policy informed by community input. Mayor Lightfoot stated that a minor traffic offense should not result in a fatal shooting. Alderman George Cardenas questioned whether Alvarez posed a threat given he was not facing the officer. U.S. Representative Jesús "Chuy" García linked the case to broader patterns of police violence against Black and Brown communities, and Illinois State Representative Will Guzzardi argued Alvarez did not deserve to be shot while fleeing.

In the aftermath, Lightfoot and then-Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said changes to the department's foot-pursuit policy would be implemented by the end of summer 2021. Chicago's foot-pursuit practices had been under scrutiny since a 2017 Department of Justice report described such pursuits as "inherently dangerous." The Chicago Police Department remains under a federal consent decree requiring broader reforms, and an independent monitoring team has noted officers lack full "buy-in" on foot-pursuit reforms.