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A special prosecutor will present evidence to a grand jury on the question of whether to indict Chicago police officers who are involved in a possible cover-up in the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes said Monday that she declined to bring charges against officers on her own and opted instead for a special grand jury investigation, according to the news outlet.

“In a decision that’s this weighty and important, I think the public would want to have some oversight. It’s fair and it’s impartial and it lends credibility to the process,” Holmes, a former judge, added.

In 2014, Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the teenager 16 times, claiming that McDonald lunged at him with a knife. Several police officers at the scene backed up Van Dyke’s story in written reports.

But a police dashboard video, released last year, shows Van Dyke gunning down McDonald seconds after exiting his police cruiser, as McDonald walked away from the police officers.

Van Dyke now faces a first-degree murder charge. Meanwhile, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson seeks to fire several officers accused of lying about the shooting.

Judge LeRoy Martin Jr., plans to convene the special grand jury in about two weeks, for a case that could last months, The Tribune reports.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter

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