At Least 100 People Shot In Chicago Over Independence Day Weekend
CHICAGO (CBS) -- At least 100 people were shot in Chicago over the long Independence Day weekend, including police officers and several children.
According to police, of the 100 people shot between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Tuesday, 18 of them were killed.
On the same weekend in 2020, 79 people were shot and 15 people were killed.
Asked if CPD needs to rethink its anti-violence strategy in the wake of the most violent weekend of the year in Chicago, Lightfoot said the department already constantly reassesses its tactics and planning.
"Every single day they rethink their strategy. They look at the data. They see where the hotspots are, and whether or not their deployments are meeting what the data is showing them in terms of shootings and homicides, So that recalibration, that happens literally every single day," she said. "But we're fighting a losing battle when we are overwhelmed with the number of illegal firearms that are here in our city."
The mayor said, while CPD must do its part in reducing violent crime, she said the city also needs help from courts, prosecutors, community organizations, and more.
"It's an entire ecosystem that has to be working seamlessly together and operating at the highest possible levels. But we're all fighting a losing battle if the guns keep streaming over the border from the suburbs, from Indiana, and from the southern states. That's why the federal government is uniquely qualified to help us locally in this fight against violence," she said.
Repeating a claim he's made many times before, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said the issue is with courts allowing people charged with violent crimes to be released on electronic monitoring, and not meting out what he sees as sufficient punishment.
In addition to asking the courts to do more, Brown said Chicago is doing better than other major cities when it comes to the uptick in shootings and homicides this year.
Brown said homicides are up 0.56% in Chicago this year, compared to an 8% increase in New York, a 24% increase in Los Angeles, a 35% increase in Philadelphia, and a 40% increase in Houston.
"Again, we get into this conversation about effectiveness. We can take guns off the street. We can charge people with murder," Brown said. "What's happening in the courts is creating this unsafe environment for all of us."
Brown also has disputed the findings of a Loyola University study that found only 3% of defendants released on bond committed another crime while out on bail, suggesting the increased reliance on electronic monitoring hasn't resulted in an uptick in violent crime.
The superintendent claimed other studies have disputed that finding, although he did not provide specifics.
"There's not a viable or final product. There's a dispute among the research community about whether or not those facts, that same study, is true," Brown said.
"I'm bringing a debate about do we continue to release violent people in our courts into these communities, and see that the targeting of violent people who are released back creates an unsafe environment for all of us? Do we continue that? That's a public debate. That's not finger-pointing. I think it's appropriate, and maybe it changes what the courts do."
Among the most recent shootings, two teens were wounded in an apparent drive-by shooting Monday night in the Uptown neighborhood. Police said a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were walking on the 4400 block of North Clarendon Avenue around 8:30 p.m., when a black sedan drove past and someone in that car fired shots.
The girl was grazed in the ankle and take to Illinois Masonic Medical Center. The boy was shot in the back, hip and leg. He was taken in critical condition to Weiss Memorial Hospital but was then transferred to Illinois Masonic.
A 15-year-old boy was shot in a drive-by shooting in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood Monday just before 6 p.m. near Marquette and Langley.
Six people were shot Monday morning in Washington Park, including a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old.
The University of Chicago Medical Center was forced to lock down for nearly three hours after shots were fired right outside the emergency room. No one was injured, but several cars were shot and one person was arrested.
Early Monday morning two Chicago police officers were shot in the Austin neighborhood trying to disperse a crowd. Those officers are expected to recover.
