‘Chicago P.D.’ Major Character Gets Man Killed During Child Murder Investigation

Chicago P.D.‘s Intelligence Unit really can get away with anything! The NBC police drama returned for another high-stakes crime involving the murder of two young children in what seemed like an unfortunate drug-related crime. The case affected Jay (Jesse Lee Soffer) the most after being the first to respond to the scene of the crime. The episode then showed as the Intelligence Unit led a time-sensitive investigation into the murders, leading to one of their own making a tragic mistake.

Spoilers ahead for Chicago P.D. Season 7, Episode 6: “False Positives”

The investigation kicked off with Jay responding to a scene and finding a frightened boy hiding in the bathroom. He tells him to stay inside until he knows it’s safe in the house and heads over to the living room. He finds two young kids shot and killed, with them seemingly having been playing video games before they were killed.

The house turns out to be main location for one of the biggest gang leaders in town, so Voight (Jason Beghe) and the team agree to work with him to swiftly solve the murder. Knowing the gang leader will want to retaliate sooner than later, the team understood their work was the key to stopping a gang war in Chicago.

The brutal children murder catches the attention of the community and the press, leading interim Superintendent Jason Crawford (Paul Adelstein) to visit Voight and the team and clue them in on a tool that could help them find a suspect sooner.

He shows them a facial recognition software that is still in the beta testing stage but has a theoretical 96 percent chance at identifying a suspect from any footage. The system leads the team to arrest a drug addict who was spotted close to the location. With the certainty of the new equipment, Jay and the team arrest and question the man.

He maintains his innocence throughout questioning, which leads Jay to try and scare him by letting him spend some of the hours of his holding at the county jail. Shortly after, the team gets news the man was badly beaten and taken to the hospital where he was placed in a medically-induced coma.

As the tragedy strikes, Jay starts to doubt his certainty the man might have been the killer given the lack of evidence. The engineers in charge of the system also reveal the software is faulty as it was built by white people and can be used efficiently to identify white people. However, the system does not work when the suspect is African-American, and it’s less accurate the darker the tone of the suspect’s skin is.

Crawford tells Voight that someone has to pay for the big mistake, but as usual, Voight has a plan. The team investigates further and finds out the attack was actually an inside job orchestrated by the gang lord’s second in command, known as Prophet. Voight then meets with the gang lord and hands him the stolen weapons and money he retrieved from Prophet, and tells him he can handle his punishment.

Voight later watches from a distance as the gang beats up and takes Prophet away. Meanwhile, Crawford holds a press conference where he blames the man who was killed in prison for the crime. The lie keeps Jay from facing the consequences of his choice.

The episode ends with Jay battling with his guilt, as he shares a drink with Voight in his office, who tells him this case is one he will have to learn to let go.

What did you think of the shocking end to the episode? Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.