CHICAGO—Some 200 people rallied at Douglas Park and then marched to the District 11 police station in the North Lawndale neighborhood here March 27. The protesters demanded justice for 22-year-old Rekia Boyd, who was shot by an off-duty Chicago police detective March 21. She died in the hospital the next day.

According to police, the off-duty cop stopped to look into a “disturbance” in Douglas Park, where a group of people had gathered. The cop fired from his car striking Boyd in the head and Antonio Cross in the hand. Without a shred of evidence or any witnesses the cop claimed that Cross advanced toward him with a gun.

“I want people to know I didn’t have a gun. She didn’t have a gun,” Cross told reporters at the rally. “I want people to know that girl was killed for nothing.” Chicago police have admitted Boyd was an innocent bystander and that no gun was found on the scene.

A number of community residents joined the march with homemade signs, including against the killing of Trayvon Martin (see article on front page) and Ricky Bradley, a homeless man they say was killed by cops March 19.

—DENNIS RICHTER