Alexis Wilson

“He executed my child,” says Cara Wilson, mother of Alexis Wilson. On 27 July 2021, 19-year-old Alexis Wilson was shot dead behind the wheel of her van by Dolton cop Jared Carlton. At approximately 12:50 a.m. cops responded to a 911 call from the employees of Baba’s Famous Steak and Lemonade Restaurant regarding a woman banging on the drive-thru window. The 911 recording has never been released, but police claimed the caller said the woman was banging with a gun. In fact, video showed it was a metal rod, not a gun.

Carlton and Ryan Perez were the first cops on the scene. They blocked Wilson’s van in the drive-through lane. Approaching with guns drawn, they ordered Wilson and a male passenger to show their hands. Both complied. Perez moved to the driver’s side of the van and the cops ordered them out of the vehicle. The passenger got out. Wilson, who was dressed in a sports bra and a robe wrapped around her bottom half, refused, saying “I’m naked.”

The cops released highly edited, self-serving video jumping between different angles. It doesn’t support the cops’ claim that Carlton shot Alexis for his own safety. Instead, it shows Perez reaching into the driver side window and punching Wilson, knocking off her glasses. As the Chicago Sun-Times summarized: “Suddenly, Wilson’s head jerked back against the seat as if she had been punched, the video shows. She drove off, screaming, as an officer jumped into the passenger seat. Bodycam footage provided by the village becomes obstructed at this point, but seconds later shots rang out.” Wilson was shot twice in the head and five times in her right side. The car jumped a curb and ran into the side of a bicycle shop. She was pronounced dead on the scene. A Cook County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Wilson, determining the cause of death to be from multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death to be homicide.

“A lot of lies” as Alexis’ mother Cara Wilson put it. “The justice system is just not set up for us.” Although the cops claim Carlton was hanging from the pillar of the passenger side door when he fired, being dragged by the van, this is contradicted by the videos which show the door had closed and the cop was seated inside. Even States Attorney Kim Foxx’s report whitewashing the cops states that Carlton “remained inside the van” after the van jumped the curb and crashed into a building. Why haven’t they released the full video footage and sound recordings from all the officers involved as well as from the restaurant or video from bystanders?

Cops found a long metal rod, not a gun, on the ground by the drive through window. Witnesses said it was a metal object that was being banged on the drive through window. Days later the cops announced they found a gun inside the van.

A rally was held on 2 August 2021 to protest Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s support for the cops, who she said “did do the right thing.” A month later there was another protest outside Village Hall, where Henyard was holding a meeting in the parking lot. Cops on the scene physically forced protesters further and further away from the meeting. Five were arrested and charged with interfering with a public meeting. One of them, Camiella Williams, filed a federal lawsuit in 2023 for the false arrest of herself and the four others, which settled in August 2024 for $30,000.

Alexis was about to start college to study respiratory therapy. The family filed a federal lawsuit in July 2022 against the Village of Dolton and officers Carlton and Perez, a month before the Cook County Office of the State’s Attorney concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges against Officer Carlton. The family’s lawsuit was settled in December 2024 for $900,000.

Cara Wilson has fought for justice for her daughter and children of others killed by the cops. In June 2025, she joined Chicago OPA activists and relatives of several other victims of cop terror and racist frame-ups, to report to the Region 4 UAW Civil & Human Rights Council, representing unionists from 12 North-Central states. Following the presentations the Council endorsed OPA. Cara, an OPA endorser, closed out our presentations with a riveting and heart-rending account of Alexis’ death and her fight for justice. She detailed the cops’ lies, cover-ups and the governments’ defense of the cops, demanding that the police archives be opened.

We demand that all video recordings of the killing, including those taken by the restaurant and bystanders, be released to the family and public scrutiny. All statements by the cops involved and by any witnesses must be released. Release personnel files and incident reports of all officers involved, including from any prior and subsequent police agencies. Release any brutality complaints or disciplinary files. For example, it turns out that Perez had been involved in a few prior shootings. Release recording of the 911 call, and any communications between officers involved and superiors, including radio, texts and emails.