Labor Day weekend shootings punctuated the end of a violent summer in a violent year. It was supposed to be a joyous day in East Garfield Park, a back-to-school event for children who live in one of the deadliest neighborhoods in Chicago.
Organizers handed out backpacks, popcorn and cotton candy as kids jumped in bouncy houses and danced to local rappers on a sunny Saturday afternoon. As things were winding down, a red car passed and the small gathering of families was sprayed by bullets. Kids and parents tripped over each other as they ran for cover. An year-old boy, his year-old step-sister and one of the rappers were hit.
The attack was part of Labor Day weekend violence that punctuated the end of summer in a year that has already seen more shootings than all of At least 67 people were shot over the long holiday, including eight children.
One of them, a 4-year-old boy named Mychal Moultry Jr. The number for all of was 2, There were homicides in Chicago through Sept. The worst recent year for gun violence in Chicago was , when there were more than 4, shooting victims and more than murders — the highest death toll since the mids.
This year has been particularly deadly for children 15 and younger. But the violence here follows a shooting spree of similar proportions in and The extreme levels of gun violence in four of the last six years does not necessarily signal a new normal, insisted Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
Ander said Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides — the communities most devastated by the shooting surge — need a lot more mental health support, youth opportunities, jobs, and outreach to people at risk of shooting or being shot.
In normal times, the start of a new school year would help curb summer violence. But Northwestern University emeritus political scientist Wesley Skogan, another expert on crime and policing, is watching for Chicago Public Schools fall enrollment figures.
Nor do they include violence committed in self-defense. Programs like NPI provide officers with resources to build trust within the communities they serve by directly interacting with residents to solve persistent quality-of-life problems. We will also be working with outreach and violence prevention organizations throughout Chicago as part of this effort.
The violent year in Chicago so far has been marked by such high-profile attacks as a random shooting spree on Jan. Nightengale was eventually shot and killed by Evanston police. It was the second year in a row the city experienced a mass shooting of that severity. At least one of the survivors in the March 14 shooting was a man who was being helped by a community organization that assists people most at risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of violence, according to Arne Duncan, who oversees one of the outreach groups.
These groups send workers — who themselves are ex-gang members who still have influence in the streets — to more than a dozen neighborhoods throughout Chicago to mediate conflicts and link those deemed most at risk with various social programs that provide job training, mental health treatment and other services. We have to give them a reason to put down the guns. While aldermen grilled Brown, at least two people were shot, one fatally, according to city data.
Dozens of violent incidents committed by offenders who were out on bail have contributed to a narrative that the courts are letting shooters on the streets. Chicago police officers are doing their job when we charge [violent offenders] with murder. That's doing our part. His office released figures that said that from to , only 3 percent of felony defendants and 5 percent of misdemeanor defendants released pretrial go on to commit a violent crime during their release.
She said many people are being arrested simply for gun possession. The back-and-forth illustrates a key difference in the focus of the two branches of law enforcement, which centers on who is considered a violent offender. In Illinois, gun owners are required to obtain a firearm owners identification card. Additionally, residents are not allowed to have a loaded gun in a car without a concealed-carry license. Of the more than 1, shooting incidents in , only 26 have resulted in arrests, according to Chicago Police Department data.
Meanwhile, more than 2, have been arrested for unlawful use of a weapon. About 86 percent of those arrested for unlawful use of weapons were Black people, according to police arrest data.
0コメント