Originally Posted by SilentKnight

Listen to the lyrics:

There was shouting in the street
And the sound of running feet
And I asked someone who said
Bout a hundred cops are dead

The kid was simply asking a passerby who *estimated* "bout a hundred cops are dead". It wasn't stated in the lyric that it was exact or factual.

I always thought the song was a cool little snapshot (if not entirely factual) of a dark time in Chicago's history.