Today in History: January 18, White Chicago police officer sentenced in Laquan McDonald’s shooting
Today is Sunday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2026. There are 347 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Jan. 18, 2019, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer who gunned down Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
Also on this date:
In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the “Sandwich Islands.”
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress in a confidential message for $2,500 in funding for exploration of Western lands all the way to the Pacific, an early step in the eventual formation of the Lewis and Clark expedition that would ultimately accelerate American expansion westward beyond the Mississippi River.
In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.
In 1958, Canadian Willie O’Ree became the first Black player in the National Hockey League as he made his debut with the Boston Bruins.
In 1977, scientists identified the bacteria responsible for the deadly form of atypical pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease.
In 1990, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was arrested after FBI agents caught him smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room in a videotaped sting. (Convicted of drug possession, Barry spent a few months in prison, returning to win a D.C. Council seat in 1992 and his fourth and final mayoral victory in 1994. He died in 2014.)
In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
In 1996, Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson, citing “irreconcilable differences” after less than two years of marriage.
In 2013, former Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted on charges that he’d used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the devastated city was struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. (Nagin was later convicted, served time, and was released from prison in 2020.)
In 2025, a gasoline tanker exploded in Nigeria, killing at least 70 people as individuals sought to transfer gasoline from one tanker into another truck as numerous bystanders looked on.
Today’s birthdays:
- Actor-filmmaker Kevin Costner is 71.
- Actor Mark Rylance is 66.
- Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier is 65.
- Actor Dave Bautista is 57.
- Actor Jesse L. Martin is 57.
- Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 55.
- Football Hall of Famer Julius Peppers is 46.
- Actor Jason Segel is 46.
- Actor Carlacia Grant is 35.
- Singer and activist Montana Tucker is 33.
- Spanish soccer star Aitana Bonmati is 28.
- Actor Karan Brar is 27.