Foundation in honor of Adam Toledo announced on the day he would have turned years had he not been shot by the police

Adam Toledo would have turned 14 this Wednesday if he had not been shot by the police.

To remember him and this day, his family celebrated his birthday with cake and pizza, and

announced the creation of a foundation in his honor.

The announcement was made in front of a mural dedicated to Adam, who was shot by an officer during a police chase in Chicago's La Villita Latin neighborhood.

The Adam's Place Foundation will be a kind of rural sanctuary

to help teenagers living in troubled urban areas

of Chicago and other cities in the center of the country.

Adam Toledo was carrying an unloaded gun when he was shot by a Chicago cop

April 22, 202100: 28

The foundation and this space were created

“to follow the memory of my son and to help other young people like him,

” Elizabeth Toledo, Adam's mother, explained to Noticias Telemundo.

His family held his birthday celebration "to remember him how he liked it, with his cake, his pizza, and not be sad ... but it's hard for me," Toledo said with a broken voice.

["The loss of a child is very hard": outrage grows over the death of Adam Toledo, the 13-year-old boy shot by Chicago police]

The young man was shot and killed in the early morning hours of March 29 by a Chicago policeman, Eric Stillman, 34, according to videos of his body camera published last month by a Chicago non-governmental agency that holds the police to account. policeman.

Stillman was responding to reports of shooting in the Little Village neighborhood when he ran into Adam and chased him down an alley.

According to the videos,

Adam threw a gun behind a fence before turning to Stillman with his hands raised.

Stillman shot him less than a second later.

Students and protesters leave flowers for Adam Toledo's photo in Washington Square Park in New York on April 28, 2021. Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"Adam was a loving son and a good boy, who had never had a problem with the police. Despite his parents' best efforts, he ran away from home the night he died, attracted by the older youth and the excitement of the street, "said the family's attorneys as reported in USA Today.

"Although the Toledo family seeks justice for Adam, they also know that

many families in their community and elsewhere are struggling to keep their own children out of harm's way," they

added.

Adam's Place is designed to provide a "safe and nurturing refuge" for young people between the ages of 10 and 14, so that they can

"develop their skills, values ​​and self-esteem by learning to care for the natural world, others, and themselves, away from the dangers of the streets, "

the lawyers said.