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While the world is sitting in pins and needles awaiting the potential confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, Chicagoans awaited the verdict of former police officer Jason Van Dyke.

A jury of Van Dyke’s peers found him GUIlTY is second degree murder of LaQuan McDonald.  The former officer fired 16 shots into McDonald in 2014.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel had been highly criticized I relations to the shooting of McDonald due to his lack of transparency in releasing the video of the police shooting.

Read more about the verdict as reported by the ABC News:

A Chicago police officer was found guilty of second degree murder and of 16 counts of aggravated battery in connection to the shooting death of African-American teen Laquan McDonald four years ago.
Jason Van Dyke was on trial for the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting death of McDonald.
He was found not guilty of official misconduct.
McDonald, who was 17 years old at the time, was shot 16 times by the officer.

Video that was released during the course of the investigation showed that McDonald was armed with a knife but did not appear to be moving towards the officers.
Van Dyke faces charges of first degree murder, aggravated battery (one count for each shot five) and police misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty and was suspended without pay.
Chicago police tweeted that thousands of officers are “ready to safeguard neighborhoods and defend the rights of peaceful demonstrations” ahead of the announcement of the verdict

Source: ABC News