Ammon News - A 13-year-old boy who was shot dead by a police officer had his hands raised in the air when the cop opened fire, new body camera footage appears to show.

Authorities initially indicated Adam Toledo had a gun in his hand as he turned back to face officers following a chase in Chicago, Illinois.

But a weapon wasn’t visible in a video released on Thursday by The Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

An officer identified as Eric Stillman, 34, pursues the boy on foot down an alley shouting ‘Police! Stop! Stop right f***ing now!’

As the teenager slows his pace, the cop yells ‘Hands, show me your f***king hands, stop!’

Adam then stops and turns towards the officer to put his hands up as the cop yells ‘drop it!’.

Halfway through repeating this command, Stillman opens fire. It takes a total of 19 seconds from when he steps out of his police car to when he shoots the boy.

Police said a handgun Adam had been carrying was discovered at the scene behind a fence.

Stillman can be heard calling for an ambulance and telling the young man to ‘stay awake’.

The officer then says he can’t feel a heartbeat and begins administering CPR. Adam was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office told WGN9 claims that the boy turned towards the cop with a gun in his right hand were inaccurate and the attorney who said this ‘failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court’.

The incident occurred as officers responded to reports of gunshots detected by police technology on 29 March.

Adam, who was Latino, ran off with Ruben Roman Jr, 21, when confronted by officers. Roman Jr was arrested on a misdemeanour charge of resisting arrest.

Toledo family attorney Adeena Weiss-Ortiz has named the shooting an ‘assassination’, Daily Mail reports.

She said: ‘Those videos speak for themselves. If you are shooting an unarmed child with his hands in the air it is an assassination.

‘His hands were empty when he was shot in the chest at the hands of the officer.’

The family has urged supporters to ‘remain peaceful’ following weeks of protest over the boy’s killing.

The board initially said it couldn’t release the body cam footage because it involved the shooting of a minor – but this changed after the mayor and police superintendent called for the release.

Stillman’s attorney Tim Grace said Toledo left the officer no choice but to shoot.

He said: ‘The juvenile offender had the gun in his right hand … looked at the officer which could be interpreted as attempting to acquire a target and began to turn to face the officer attempting to swing the gun in his direction.’

At this point the officer was faced with a life-threatening and deadly force situation. All prior attempts to deescalate and gain compliance with all of the officer’s lawful orders had failed.’

It comes after black man Daunte Wright was shot dead after being pulled over for having an ‘air freshener hanging from mirror’ in Minnesota.

Officer Kim Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter after ‘accidentally discharging’ her gun rather than her Taser.

The Wright family’s lawyer Ben Crump has named the killing an ‘intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force’.

The wider Minneapolis area is currently awaiting the outcome of the trial for Derek Chauvin, the first of four officers charged in George Floyd’s death.

*Metro