Chicago police shooting: Family says knifeman Tracey Watson, fatally shot in South Austin, defended himself against attack

CHICAGO (WLS) — A stabber was shot and killed in a police-involved shooting on the city’s West Side Monday night. The suspect’s family spoke to ABC7 on Wednesday.

Chicago police say the suspect, Tracey Watson, attempted to stab a man in the street in the 300 block of South Cicero Avenue in South Austin around 11 p.m. Watson’s family claims there’s more to the story.

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Watson’s family said the father of four was defending himself and his cousin, who were attacked by two men before the fatal police shooting.

The family has carefully reviewed surveillance videos showing the moments of Watson’s murder.

“It was self-defense because he was hit twice,” said Watson’s cousin Daniel Henry. “He was not the attacker.”

Henry said Watson and another cousin were waiting at the Cicero and Gladys bus stop when two men confronted Tracey about urinating in public. He said one of the men punched Tracey in the face and then ran away.

Tracey and his cousin ran after them into a vacant lot before the men violently attacked Tracey a second time, according to Henry.

“They stopped again, took a bottle and when my two cousins ​​caught up with them, they hit my cousin Tracey in the face with a bottle,” Henry said.

Watson’s family said the two men who allegedly attacked him then flagged down a passing police car, as seen on surveillance video.

“When the guy tried to flag down the police and then my cousin came up to him, they said, ‘Oh, he has a gun,’ that my cousin Claudell had a gun, but he didn’t have a gun,” Henry said.

Henry identified the man seen in the video wearing light-colored pants as Watson’s cousin Claudell, who appears to be being beaten by another man.

“When my cousin Claudell came up to the two guys and asked, ‘What’s going on?’ the guy saw that he didn’t have a gun, so he tried to hit him again. That’s when my cousin Tracey came and started fighting with him,” Henry said.

The man is then seen stumbling and falling to the ground. What happened next was a violent attack, according to police. Tracey repeatedly stabbed the other man as he lay on the street, according to Chicago police.

Then more than 10 seconds passed, during which officers, standing with guns drawn, repeatedly ordered the alleged attacker to drop his weapon. When he refused to stop, officers fired and Tracey fell to the ground, police said.

“My cousin said they never said ‘drop the knife’ or anything like that,” Henry said. “He said they didn’t hear anything about it. He said he tried to tell them to taser them before they started wrestling.”

Watson’s family said this was not simply a knife-wielding altercation, but the story of a father trying to defend himself and his cousin.

“He has four children and he lived for them, and now his children will not know him,” said Henry. “What are we going to tell those children?”

ABC7 reached out to Chicago police again after speaking with Henry on Wednesday. Police referred to their original statement about the incident.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability continues to investigate the police shooting.

As for the stabbing victim, at last check, he was still at Stroger Hospital and in critical condition.