Wife of Police officer who SHOT and killed Laquan McDonald is not a monster says wife

Nancy Stone/AP)

CHICAGO —The wife of a Chicago police officer awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge for a 2014 shooting that triggered racial tension in the city says her husband is not a “monster,” but acknowledged he became emotionally closed off before the incident.

In the first comments made by the family of officer Jason Van Dyke since he was charged nearly six months ago in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Tiffany Van Dyke told the Chicago Tribune that her husband is misunderstood.

"He is not the monster the world now sees him as," Tiffany Van Dyke said. "He prays for Laquan and his family. (The shooting) is not something he ever wanted to do."

Van Dyke, who is white, was charged on the same day a court order forced the city to release police dashcam video of the shooting that showed him firing 16 shots at the black teen. Thirteen of the shots were fired after McDonald, who was holding a small knife, was already on the ground. Police were called to the area on reports that McDonald, who had a history of mental illness, had been breaking into vehicles in a truck yard.

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