Chicago • The explosive video of a white Chicago officer shooting a black teenager 16 times shocked consciences around the world with footage of Laquan McDonald getting gunned down as he walked away from police.
The graphic images of McDonald crumpling to the street while bullets kept striking him stirred expectations that the officer might be convicted in the killing and pay a heavy price in prison time.
The verdict came in October — a rare murder conviction for an officer in an on-duty shooting. But on Friday the sentence of less than seven years for Jason Van Dyke — and the possibility that he may serve only half of that — led McDonald's family and at least one activist to question whether justice had been done and the right message sent to other officers.