Today in Chicago History: Laquan McDonald shot by Chicago police Officer Jason van Dyke

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 20, according to the Tribune’s archives.

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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 86 degrees (1953)
Low temperature: 24 degrees (1930)
Precipitation: 1.65 inches (1916)
Snowfall: 3 inches (1952)

The exterior of the Goodman Memorial Theatre in Chicago in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

1925: The 700-seat Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Memorial Theatre, named for the Chicago-born playwright who died of pneumonia in 1918, was dedicated next to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The theater planned a move to the city’s theater district starting in 1988 and opened at 170 N. Dearborn St. in 2000, which made room for the Art Institute’s Modern Wing.

1995: Inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in downstate Greenville took over most of a housing unit after guards tried to impose a lockdown declared by the Justice Department.

On Oct. 17, 2024, a cross and flowers sit near the street where Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shot Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014, in the 4100 block of South Pulaski Road in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) — A cross and flowers sit on Oct. 17, 2024, near the street where Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shot Laquan McDonald in 2014 in the 4100 block of South Pulaski Road in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

2014: Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times near 41st Street and Pulaski Road. McDonald was later pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.

‘This kid had an impact on people’: The troubled life and fleeting potential of Laquan McDonald

A Cook County jury found Van Dyke guilty on Oct. 5, 2018, on one count of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for each bullet that hit McDonald’s body. He was sentenced to 81 months in prison, but released in February 2022 after serving a little more than three years behind bars.

College of DuPage President Robert Breuder leaves his office at 425 22nd St., Glen Ellyn, with his dog on April 28, 2015. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)

2015: College of DuPage trustees voted to fire President Robert Breuder and ended his controversial tenure at the state’s largest community college.

The resolution to terminate Breuder listed eight reasons for the decision, including excessive spending, poor financial oversight and failing to respond to requests made under the state’s open records laws.

Breuder was expected in 2022 to receive a $4 million settlement from the community college, ending an expensive, years-long legal battle in which the parties accused each other of malfeasance.