A cop was shot and killed while chasing a suspect. Can you guess the key fact that media omitted?

Chicago media ran stories today about a police officer there who was shot and killed while pursuing a fleeing suspect. They name the 36-year-old officer, a woman with a young daughter, who chased the suspect on foot. They quote a senior officer saying she was protecting lives and lost her own as a hero who wanted to make Chicago safer.

She was a four-year department veteran on duty with a 6th District tactical team, they report, stopping a man they understood to be armed. They relate the suspect’s flight into a nearby apartment, and an armed confrontation commencing with those within. One pointed a rifle at them and officer Krystal Rivera was shot: “Shots fired at police,” one officer “screamed.” Rivera was rushed to local hospital, but died.

“This is the risk our officers take every single day,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling is quoted saying. Two suspects were arrested. Three firearms were recovered at the scene. One story closes on a poignant quote from Mayor Brandon Johnson: “Her young, energetic and bold approach toward keeping us safe is the memory we will honor.”

Hundreds of words. Dozens of paragraphs. But nowhere do any of these reporters state who is thought to have shot and killed Krystal Rivera. Police are usually enthusiastic about naming them, especially when they are in custody.

The story is an unusually extreme example of what some call “the exonerative tense” in reportage about bad things that happen in the presence of police. When it comes to the moment where the key act would be described, such stories retreat into the passive voice, law enforcement jargon and peculiar omission: guns are discharged, individuals are impacted, subjects become unresponsive. It reflects the language of police reports and press releases, adopted verbatim by newswriters and editors eager to please departments that are often their key sources.

A clue is offered in the PBS story: “The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is also investigating the incident.” I’m sure they are.

Note how my post never states that Rivera was shot and killed by another cop? You likely think it does. It’s an intentional technique and it works. But I don’t know if that’s really what happened. We can only hope the police soon have local media post what did.