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Black Lives Matter activists hail 'historic' verdict as killer of Laquan McDonald convicted of murder
Campaigners celebrate after police officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of murdering black teenager Laquan McDonald
BLACK Lives Matter campaigners have hailed the “historic” verdict that saw police officer Jason Van Dyke convicted of murder on Friday for killing black teenager Laquan McDonald nearly four years ago.
Mr Van Dyke, who shot 17-year-old Laquan 16 times in the back in Chicago on October 20 2014, becomes the first city officer to be convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting in 50 years.
But jurors convicted the officer of second rather than first-degree murder, accepting Mr Van Dyke’s claim to have believed his life to have been in danger, but ruling it was an unreasonable belief.
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