At least 40 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend during the seven hours from midnight Saturday to early Sunday morning, with four fatalities, city police said on Sunday, a stark violent streak in a city where authorities say gun violence has been decreasing this year.
"These were both random and targeted shootings on our streets," said Fred Waller, Chief of the Patrol Division of the Chicago Police Department, in a press conference.
He said most of the shootings are connected to gang violence in the city of about 2.7 million people, the third-largest in the United States.
Police said gunmen targeted a block party, a gathering after a funeral, and other gatherings on a night where thousands of people gathered for a downtown concert.
Local media reported that the brunt of the violence happened in the city's West Side, where 25 people were shot in separate attacks.
Waller touted that shootings in 2018 were down from last year.
The Chicago Tribune, which has been tracking shooting statistics, reported earlier this month that shootings in the city have declined, with 533 fewer shootings as of Aug. 1 than the same time in 2017. "By no means do these statistics show that we have a victory," Waller said.
He said that police are working with other law enforcement groups to target gang activity. "I promise we will not be defeated," Waller said.
More specifics on the shootings were not immediately available late on Sunday.
Showing posts with label Murder Capital USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Murder Capital USA. Show all posts
Monday, August 06, 2018
Monday, August 29, 2016
Shootings and Murders in Chicago Continue to Spike
Even before the high-profile shooting death of Nykea Aldridge, NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin, Chicago had been battling a citywide spike in violent crime. While the connection to one of the country's best-known athletes has drawn national attention to the city's problem with gun violence, the underlying problem remains all too familiar for many Chicago residents.
Following Aldridge's death, nine people were killed and nearly 50 were shot across Chicago over the weekend, ABC Chicago station WLS-TV reported. Aldridge's death took place just one day after Wade participated in an ESPN Town Hall on gun violence in the Windy City, an event also attended by Wade's mother, the pastor Jolinda Wade.
"Just sat up on a panel yesterday, The Undefeated, talking about the violence that's going on within our city of Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it," she said. "We're still going to try and help these people to transform their minds and give them a different direction, so this thing won't keep happening."
Murders have spiked by 49 percent this year compared to last year, and 81 percent over the same time period in 2014.
With more than 450 murders so far in 2015, Chicago is on pace for its highest overall murder count since at least 2012, when 504 were recorded in the entire year.
Overall shooting incidents -- at more than 2,200 and counting -- have mirrored that rise, with a 48 percent spike so far in 2016.
Police blame gangs for a disproportionate share of the city's violent crime.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said on Saturday that about 1,400 people -- many of them gangs members -- are driving 85 percent of the city's gun violence. The two suspects in Aldridge's death are both documented gang members, police said.
Tragically, many of the shooting victims get caught in the crossfire.
Aldridge, 32, was hit by stray bullets as she pushed her newborn in a stroller after enrolling one of her children in school, WLS-TV reported.
This year's shootings have intensified with the summer heat. This July alone, Chicago saw 65 homicides — the most for that month since 2006, the Associated Press reported.
On Aug. 8, nine people were murdered in Chicago, making it the bloodiest day in 13 years, according to the Chicago Tribune. The victims that day included a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played on his front porch, the Tribune reported. Some 27 children younger than 13 have been shot in Chicago so far this year, according to WLS-TV.
Thanks to J.J. Gallagher.
Following Aldridge's death, nine people were killed and nearly 50 were shot across Chicago over the weekend, ABC Chicago station WLS-TV reported. Aldridge's death took place just one day after Wade participated in an ESPN Town Hall on gun violence in the Windy City, an event also attended by Wade's mother, the pastor Jolinda Wade.
"Just sat up on a panel yesterday, The Undefeated, talking about the violence that's going on within our city of Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it," she said. "We're still going to try and help these people to transform their minds and give them a different direction, so this thing won't keep happening."
Murders have spiked by 49 percent this year compared to last year, and 81 percent over the same time period in 2014.
With more than 450 murders so far in 2015, Chicago is on pace for its highest overall murder count since at least 2012, when 504 were recorded in the entire year.
Overall shooting incidents -- at more than 2,200 and counting -- have mirrored that rise, with a 48 percent spike so far in 2016.
Police blame gangs for a disproportionate share of the city's violent crime.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said on Saturday that about 1,400 people -- many of them gangs members -- are driving 85 percent of the city's gun violence. The two suspects in Aldridge's death are both documented gang members, police said.
Tragically, many of the shooting victims get caught in the crossfire.
Aldridge, 32, was hit by stray bullets as she pushed her newborn in a stroller after enrolling one of her children in school, WLS-TV reported.
This year's shootings have intensified with the summer heat. This July alone, Chicago saw 65 homicides — the most for that month since 2006, the Associated Press reported.
On Aug. 8, nine people were murdered in Chicago, making it the bloodiest day in 13 years, according to the Chicago Tribune. The victims that day included a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played on his front porch, the Tribune reported. Some 27 children younger than 13 have been shot in Chicago so far this year, according to WLS-TV.
Thanks to J.J. Gallagher.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Chicago's Gangs Out of Control, Give City Worst Day for Homicides in Over a Decade
Michael Lucas, 61, was sitting on his front stoop in Chicago’s Burnside neighborhood, watching his 3-year-old grandnephew play in the afternoon sun, when without warning two men ran toward the house and opened fire on him.
One shot struck Lucas. As the men advanced up the sidewalk, they pushed Lucas’s grandnephew out of the way and shot Lucas three more times, family members said. The attackers fled in a red SUV, and Lucas died on the stoop from gunshot wounds to the neck and head.
Lucas was one of 19 people shot on Monday — nine of them fatally — in what the Chicago Tribune has called the city’s deadliest day in more than a decade.
Chicago has experienced a surge in violence in the past year, much of it concentrated on the city’s South Side, where Lucas lived. A staggering 2,500 people have been shot in the city since the beginning of the year, more than in any year at this point since the 1990s. There have been at least 426 homicides in 2016, far more than in New York, which has three times Chicago’s population.
Monday marked the most homicides Chicago has seen in a single day since July 5, 2003, when 10 people were killed, according to the Tribune.
The Chicago Police Department hasn’t offered an official response to the day’s violence. A spokesman for the department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Lucas, a father of three and grandfather of seven, was shot at about 1:20 p.m., according to police, who said he didn’t appear to be the intended target. His family members described him as a jack of all trades and a handyman who played blues guitar and liked to drink beer on his front porch.“Pops wasn’t a bad person,” Lucas’s son Carl told WGN. “He never did nothing to nobody.”
Lucas’s grandnephew wasn’t harmed in the shooting, relatives said.
Across town in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood, a 10-year-old boy wasn’t as lucky. Fifth-grader Tavon Tanner was playing with his twin sister on the front porch of their home around 10 p.m. when someone on the street fired nine shots, with at least one round striking the boy in the back, the Tribune reported.
Tanner’s mother, Mellanie Washington, said the boy staggered through the front door, gasping for air and yelling, “I can’t breathe.” His sister held his hand and told him, “Twin don’t leave me” over and over, according to Washington.
Tanner was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where doctors removed his spleen and operated on his kidneys and other organs, leaving a bullet inside, Washington said. He remained in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon, the Tribune reported.
Earlier in the evening in the same part of the city two other people were shot and killed.
Irell Mitchell, 22, was playing basketball in a park in North Lawndale when someone shot at him from a passing car, DNAinfo reported. He died in the hospital from gunshot wounds to the arm and back, police said.
Mitchell’s godfather, Ken Owens, said he had moved out of the neighborhood, but often came back to shoot hoops with his friends.“I know every time this happens, everyone starts saying ‘Oh, he was a good kid,’ ” Owens said. “But in this case it’s true — he really was a good kid.”
Less than two hours earlier and one mile away, John Hosey Jr., 28, was shot while he was driving, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Police said he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Other parts of the city weren’t spared the violence either. On Chicago’s Far South Side, a drive-by shooting left one man dead and two others critically injured. Police said Anthony Hatchett, 44, was standing on the sidewalk when someone opened fire out of the window of a passing blue van. Hatchett died in the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head. A 28-year-old and a 30-year-old were struck as well and taken to the hospital, where they were listed in critical condition.
And in West Town, near Chicago’s North Side, a 25-year-old father died after being shot in his car. William Villa was in his SUV stopped at a red light when another vehicle pulled up next to him and someone inside shot him in his head, killing him, according to police, who said Villa was a known gang member.
Law enforcement agencies in metropolitan areas around the country say they’ve seen upticks in homicides and other violent crimes over this point last year. More than two-dozen police departments in large U.S. cities reported that as of June 2016 homicides were up over the first half of last year — in some cases by dozens, according to a Washington Post analysis of law enforcement data.
Orlando led the pack, with a 712 percent increase over last year — a figure driven up dramatically by the Pulse nightclub mass shooting that claimed the lives of 49 clubgoers in June.
Chicago, however, saw the biggest increase in the raw number of homicides. In the first half of 2016, the city counted 316 killings, up from 211 at the same time last year. At this rate, the city could pass 600 homicides by the end of the year, more than any year since 2003, The Post reported.
News of Monday’s violence fell hard on Rev. Tim Williams, who said he knew Irell Mitchell and Tavon Tanner, two of the victims from the West Side shootings.
Williams told the Tribune that he was a mentor to Mitchell through church and had gone to visit his family in the hospital. He said he returned home to see Tanner, who lives next door to him, playing outside, kicking a gate in front of his house. Moments later, bullets hit Tanner in the back.
Williams said his mother had just come inside from choir rehearsal when the shots rang out.“I walked her to the bedroom and then pa-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta,” Williams told the Tribune. “That could have been my momma.”
Thanks to Derek Hawkins.
One shot struck Lucas. As the men advanced up the sidewalk, they pushed Lucas’s grandnephew out of the way and shot Lucas three more times, family members said. The attackers fled in a red SUV, and Lucas died on the stoop from gunshot wounds to the neck and head.
Lucas was one of 19 people shot on Monday — nine of them fatally — in what the Chicago Tribune has called the city’s deadliest day in more than a decade.
Chicago has experienced a surge in violence in the past year, much of it concentrated on the city’s South Side, where Lucas lived. A staggering 2,500 people have been shot in the city since the beginning of the year, more than in any year at this point since the 1990s. There have been at least 426 homicides in 2016, far more than in New York, which has three times Chicago’s population.
Monday marked the most homicides Chicago has seen in a single day since July 5, 2003, when 10 people were killed, according to the Tribune.
The Chicago Police Department hasn’t offered an official response to the day’s violence. A spokesman for the department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Lucas, a father of three and grandfather of seven, was shot at about 1:20 p.m., according to police, who said he didn’t appear to be the intended target. His family members described him as a jack of all trades and a handyman who played blues guitar and liked to drink beer on his front porch.“Pops wasn’t a bad person,” Lucas’s son Carl told WGN. “He never did nothing to nobody.”
Lucas’s grandnephew wasn’t harmed in the shooting, relatives said.
Across town in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood, a 10-year-old boy wasn’t as lucky. Fifth-grader Tavon Tanner was playing with his twin sister on the front porch of their home around 10 p.m. when someone on the street fired nine shots, with at least one round striking the boy in the back, the Tribune reported.
Tanner’s mother, Mellanie Washington, said the boy staggered through the front door, gasping for air and yelling, “I can’t breathe.” His sister held his hand and told him, “Twin don’t leave me” over and over, according to Washington.
Tanner was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where doctors removed his spleen and operated on his kidneys and other organs, leaving a bullet inside, Washington said. He remained in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon, the Tribune reported.
Earlier in the evening in the same part of the city two other people were shot and killed.
Irell Mitchell, 22, was playing basketball in a park in North Lawndale when someone shot at him from a passing car, DNAinfo reported. He died in the hospital from gunshot wounds to the arm and back, police said.
Mitchell’s godfather, Ken Owens, said he had moved out of the neighborhood, but often came back to shoot hoops with his friends.“I know every time this happens, everyone starts saying ‘Oh, he was a good kid,’ ” Owens said. “But in this case it’s true — he really was a good kid.”
Less than two hours earlier and one mile away, John Hosey Jr., 28, was shot while he was driving, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Police said he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Other parts of the city weren’t spared the violence either. On Chicago’s Far South Side, a drive-by shooting left one man dead and two others critically injured. Police said Anthony Hatchett, 44, was standing on the sidewalk when someone opened fire out of the window of a passing blue van. Hatchett died in the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head. A 28-year-old and a 30-year-old were struck as well and taken to the hospital, where they were listed in critical condition.
And in West Town, near Chicago’s North Side, a 25-year-old father died after being shot in his car. William Villa was in his SUV stopped at a red light when another vehicle pulled up next to him and someone inside shot him in his head, killing him, according to police, who said Villa was a known gang member.
Law enforcement agencies in metropolitan areas around the country say they’ve seen upticks in homicides and other violent crimes over this point last year. More than two-dozen police departments in large U.S. cities reported that as of June 2016 homicides were up over the first half of last year — in some cases by dozens, according to a Washington Post analysis of law enforcement data.
Orlando led the pack, with a 712 percent increase over last year — a figure driven up dramatically by the Pulse nightclub mass shooting that claimed the lives of 49 clubgoers in June.
Chicago, however, saw the biggest increase in the raw number of homicides. In the first half of 2016, the city counted 316 killings, up from 211 at the same time last year. At this rate, the city could pass 600 homicides by the end of the year, more than any year since 2003, The Post reported.
News of Monday’s violence fell hard on Rev. Tim Williams, who said he knew Irell Mitchell and Tavon Tanner, two of the victims from the West Side shootings.
Williams told the Tribune that he was a mentor to Mitchell through church and had gone to visit his family in the hospital. He said he returned home to see Tanner, who lives next door to him, playing outside, kicking a gate in front of his house. Moments later, bullets hit Tanner in the back.
Williams said his mother had just come inside from choir rehearsal when the shots rang out.“I walked her to the bedroom and then pa-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta,” Williams told the Tribune. “That could have been my momma.”
Thanks to Derek Hawkins.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Chicago's Summer of Bloodshed 2016 Grows as Politicans Ignore Threat of Gangs
2016 is turning out to be Chicago's Summer of Bloodshed.
272-278 people were murdered during the first six months of this year. Over 1300 people were shot and wounded.
Going into summer, 16 people were killed and 87 wounded this month alone. This week, six people were shot and killed and 87 wounded. It appears the numbers will not abate as the weather heats up.
Most of these murders are directly related to the gang and drug business. Retaliations, competition, and other factors of violence that go hand in hand with organized criminal enterprises.
The gangs are fomenting a guerrilla war on our city. It is a war of violence. murder, and mayhem. The politicians are not concerned about or ignore the scope and power the gangs hold in this city. This war is costing scores of lives, many of them innocent people. It is a war that terrorizes whole neighborhoods.
For too many years, well over a decade, the politicians kept convincing the people of Chicago the gangs are fractured, their leadership either in prison or retired, and there is no real gang structure. The killings are by small "factions" or independents.
Chicago should know better. Chicago politicians are not known for honesty or integrity.
The major gangs are highly organized and structured. Why else would gang members young and old, show up at a murder trial of fellow Latin Kings wearing their colors?
It appears the Latin Kings are telling Chicago, the police, courts, and public, "We are here, we are here to stay, there is nothing you can do about it."
This is in your face public relations.
Need further proof? The Outlaws, one of the most notorious criminal motorcycle gangs, boldly put their South Side headquarters on the corner of 25th and Rockwell. There is what appears to be a bullet proof barrier protecting the entryway and a steel clad door behind it. Federal authorities claim the Outlaws are major meth manufacturers and distributors. They are also known for violence, mayhem, and murder.
Make no mistake. Chicago gangs are organized, structured, and are responsible for the murderous chaos in various neighborhoods. The politicians refuse to acknowledge it or let the police crack down.
The violence problem is not going to get solved by treating gangs as if they do not exist. It is not going to abate by believing the gangs are fractured and the violence is caused by independents and wannabes.
Gangs are criminal organizations. They are not social clubs or neighborhood protection organizations. They are not a social science phenomena, as academics would have us believe. Gangs are organized crime groups. Their only purpose and reason for existence is crime. Crime is their business. In some areas, crime is the only economy.
All members of gangs are criminals. Gang members have no positive social redeeming values. They are a detriment to society. They are the enemy within, a cancer on our city.
Traditional organized crime, which ruled this city for decades, is a mere shadow of its former self. Yet, they are still monitored for criminal activity. Over one thousand murders are attributed to the Outfit, from the Capone era to the present. Few, if any, were innocent victims.
We do not know if anyone is closely monitoring Chicago's street gangs. We only know what the politicians want us to know. Next to nothing.
For some inexplicable reason, the gangs are not considered to be as dangerous to society as the Chicago Outfit. They are not treated as organized criminal enterprises to be destroyed. Yet, day after day, week after week, month after month, the death toll rises.
Politics plays an important role in crime. The gang organizations have been left alone for way too long. The "reasons" are too many to list. They all boil down to the same things, cowardice and corruption.
City Hall and the County Building are dens of cowards. The politicians fear being labeled racist. Many enable the gangs and benefit by their existence. They are associates of organized crime.
If the politicians will not allow law enforcement to expose the gang leadership, structure, and membership, then it is time for some other organization to do it.
The Chicago Crime Commission is toothless. They tout the same lame excuses as the politicians. Former Mayor Daley pulled out their teeth and claws when they were about to expose organized crime's incestuous relationship with Chicago politicians. From then on, the CCC has been an unreliable and sometimes laughable source on organized criminal enterprises in Chicago. They, like the politicians, refuse to fight the good fight. They keep trying to justify deserving their grant money and other donations.
Something new and courageous is needed to get information to the people. To expose the gangs, their associates and enablers, and their structure and leadership. Make no mistake. All the illicit money generated is going to the top. There needs to be a structure for that.
A new organization is needed to investigate, expose, and report on these organized criminal enterprises, their associates, and enablers. It needs to be funded properly and privately. No government grants. Those are controlled by the very politicians whose heads are in the sand.
There are enough well meaning, civic minded, wealthy people in Chicago who could fund an intelligence, organized crime research, and reporting organization. It would need to be a hybrid group of former law enforcement, prosecutors, and journalists. A Better Government Association on steroids. A group that would be fearless, dauntless, and bold. As bold as the Outlaws, whose club is proudly festooned in one of Chicago's gang infested areas.
Chicago's millionaires, billionaires, major businesses, and financial sectors finance a host of organizations. The arts, architectural preservation, parks and recreation, programs for youth, museums, and other civic and cultural groups. It is time they focused on law and order.
All the great things about Chicago are tarnished by the daily murder, mayhem, and bloodshed on the streets. If the politicians will not do their jobs or let the police do theirs, then it is time for others to take up the mantle. With enough publicity and exposure of organized criminal enterprises, the politicians will have no choice. They will have to act. Swiftly and harshly.
Chicago is becoming the laughing stock of the nation. There is no reason for this.
It is time for good people to do something. If it means embarrassing the politicians, so be it.
The next innocent victim could be your child.
Thanks to Peter Bella.
272-278 people were murdered during the first six months of this year. Over 1300 people were shot and wounded.
Going into summer, 16 people were killed and 87 wounded this month alone. This week, six people were shot and killed and 87 wounded. It appears the numbers will not abate as the weather heats up.
Most of these murders are directly related to the gang and drug business. Retaliations, competition, and other factors of violence that go hand in hand with organized criminal enterprises.
The gangs are fomenting a guerrilla war on our city. It is a war of violence. murder, and mayhem. The politicians are not concerned about or ignore the scope and power the gangs hold in this city. This war is costing scores of lives, many of them innocent people. It is a war that terrorizes whole neighborhoods.
For too many years, well over a decade, the politicians kept convincing the people of Chicago the gangs are fractured, their leadership either in prison or retired, and there is no real gang structure. The killings are by small "factions" or independents.
Chicago should know better. Chicago politicians are not known for honesty or integrity.
The major gangs are highly organized and structured. Why else would gang members young and old, show up at a murder trial of fellow Latin Kings wearing their colors?
"The courtroom was full of Latin Kings wearing gold jerseys, and family members and other friends, old Kings, young Kings, future Kings. They were angry. They smirked. First they murmured, then they got louder." (John Kass/Chicago Tribune)
It appears the Latin Kings are telling Chicago, the police, courts, and public, "We are here, we are here to stay, there is nothing you can do about it."
This is in your face public relations.
Need further proof? The Outlaws, one of the most notorious criminal motorcycle gangs, boldly put their South Side headquarters on the corner of 25th and Rockwell. There is what appears to be a bullet proof barrier protecting the entryway and a steel clad door behind it. Federal authorities claim the Outlaws are major meth manufacturers and distributors. They are also known for violence, mayhem, and murder.
Make no mistake. Chicago gangs are organized, structured, and are responsible for the murderous chaos in various neighborhoods. The politicians refuse to acknowledge it or let the police crack down.
The violence problem is not going to get solved by treating gangs as if they do not exist. It is not going to abate by believing the gangs are fractured and the violence is caused by independents and wannabes.
Gangs are criminal organizations. They are not social clubs or neighborhood protection organizations. They are not a social science phenomena, as academics would have us believe. Gangs are organized crime groups. Their only purpose and reason for existence is crime. Crime is their business. In some areas, crime is the only economy.
All members of gangs are criminals. Gang members have no positive social redeeming values. They are a detriment to society. They are the enemy within, a cancer on our city.
Traditional organized crime, which ruled this city for decades, is a mere shadow of its former self. Yet, they are still monitored for criminal activity. Over one thousand murders are attributed to the Outfit, from the Capone era to the present. Few, if any, were innocent victims.
We do not know if anyone is closely monitoring Chicago's street gangs. We only know what the politicians want us to know. Next to nothing.
For some inexplicable reason, the gangs are not considered to be as dangerous to society as the Chicago Outfit. They are not treated as organized criminal enterprises to be destroyed. Yet, day after day, week after week, month after month, the death toll rises.
Politics plays an important role in crime. The gang organizations have been left alone for way too long. The "reasons" are too many to list. They all boil down to the same things, cowardice and corruption.
City Hall and the County Building are dens of cowards. The politicians fear being labeled racist. Many enable the gangs and benefit by their existence. They are associates of organized crime.
If the politicians will not allow law enforcement to expose the gang leadership, structure, and membership, then it is time for some other organization to do it.
The Chicago Crime Commission is toothless. They tout the same lame excuses as the politicians. Former Mayor Daley pulled out their teeth and claws when they were about to expose organized crime's incestuous relationship with Chicago politicians. From then on, the CCC has been an unreliable and sometimes laughable source on organized criminal enterprises in Chicago. They, like the politicians, refuse to fight the good fight. They keep trying to justify deserving their grant money and other donations.
Something new and courageous is needed to get information to the people. To expose the gangs, their associates and enablers, and their structure and leadership. Make no mistake. All the illicit money generated is going to the top. There needs to be a structure for that.
A new organization is needed to investigate, expose, and report on these organized criminal enterprises, their associates, and enablers. It needs to be funded properly and privately. No government grants. Those are controlled by the very politicians whose heads are in the sand.
There are enough well meaning, civic minded, wealthy people in Chicago who could fund an intelligence, organized crime research, and reporting organization. It would need to be a hybrid group of former law enforcement, prosecutors, and journalists. A Better Government Association on steroids. A group that would be fearless, dauntless, and bold. As bold as the Outlaws, whose club is proudly festooned in one of Chicago's gang infested areas.
Chicago's millionaires, billionaires, major businesses, and financial sectors finance a host of organizations. The arts, architectural preservation, parks and recreation, programs for youth, museums, and other civic and cultural groups. It is time they focused on law and order.
All the great things about Chicago are tarnished by the daily murder, mayhem, and bloodshed on the streets. If the politicians will not do their jobs or let the police do theirs, then it is time for others to take up the mantle. With enough publicity and exposure of organized criminal enterprises, the politicians will have no choice. They will have to act. Swiftly and harshly.
Chicago is becoming the laughing stock of the nation. There is no reason for this.
It is time for good people to do something. If it means embarrassing the politicians, so be it.
The next innocent victim could be your child.
Thanks to Peter Bella.
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Chicago Gun Shootings Stats for 2016 through April 30th, #MurderCapitalUSA
For the time period from January 1, 2016 to April 30, 2016, the City of Chicago saw the following # of shootings:
Shot & Killed: 187
Shot & Wounded: 969
Total Shot: 1156
Shot & Killed: 187
Shot & Wounded: 969
Total Shot: 1156
Monday, November 09, 2015
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
#Chiraq - Gangs Have Turned Chicago into a War Zone, #MurderCapitalUSA, 45 Shot on Easter Weekend, 37 More the Weekend Before
President Obama may have gotten our troops out of Iraq, but the gunfire in his hometown of Chicago is still earning it a searing nickname coined by young people who live there.
Chiraq.
On Easter weekend, 45 people were shot in the city, six of them children. Five youngsters under the age of 15—four girls and a boy—were shot in a playground where they had gone after Easter services at a nearby church.
Witnesses agree that a car pulled up and one of the occupants asked the youngsters if they were in a gang. There is some dispute about whether the youngsters even got a chance to say no before the people in the car started shooting.
The most seriously wounded, 11-year-old Tymisha Washington, was listed in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. She is expected to survive.
“Prayers Going Up Blessings Coming Down,” read a posting on her aunt’s Facebook page.
A Facebook argument had apparently sparked a completely unrelated shooting at the start of the weekend. Best friends Jordan Means, 16, and Anthony Bankhead, 18, got into the online spat with a man in his 30s. The man is said to have followed his final post by appearing in the flesh and shooting the two teens to death.
Two other men were fatally shot later in the weekend as they sat in a car that was also occupied by two kids, ages 3 and 7. The children were physically unharmed but no doubt will join those who are as mentally scarred by living in Chicago as were some combat veterans who returned from the war in Iraq. And this bloody Easter weekend was preceded by a weekend in which 37 people were shot, four of them fatally.
FBI Director James Comey happened to be in Chicago the following Monday, and he ascribed much of the violence to the gang culture so deeply ingrained in the city. But Comey had little to say about what Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy recognizes as the core problem.
“Until we do something about guns, don’t expect things to change overnight,” McCarthy said at a press conference that same day.
McCarthy noted that Chicago cops have seized 1,500 illegal guns so far this year, but the people caught with the weapons are all too often back on the street all too soon. “It’s like running on a hamster wheel,” McCarthy said of the effort to grapple with the problem. “We’re drinking from a fire hose, seizing these guns, and people are back out on the street. They’re not learning that carrying a firearm is going to have a serious impact on their lives.”
McCarthy invoked the memory of Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year-old who was killed by a stray round in 2013, just days after performing at Obama’s second inauguration. McCarthy noted that her suspected killer had been at liberty despite having been convicted of illegal gun possession just two months before.
“If he’s not out on the street, Hadiya Pendleton is out there being an honor student and continuing on with her life,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy emphasized that the Chicago Police Department is pursuing a wide range of strategies to stem the violence, much of which is gang-related. And the murder rate is actually down this year. But even the smartest policing by the most dedicated cops can only do so much in the absence of effective gun laws.
“If you don’t go to jail for gun possession, you continue to carry guns,” McCarthy said. “You continue to carry guns, and people get shot.”
Other people who have gotten shot in Chicago in recent days include 17-year-old Ronald Hayes, who was expected to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and who had promised to take his mother to the prom because she never had the opportunity to attend one. He was gunned down in February as he shoveled snow outside a neighbor’s home.
There was also 17-year-old Gakirah Barnes. Her Twitter moniker was @tyquannassassin, apparently in honor of a 13-year-old relative named Tyquann Tyler who was killed by a stray bullet in 2012. Barnes reportedly was allied with the rapper Lil Jay and the late rapper Lil JoJo, who was killed in 2012 by a not at all stray round after releasing video dissing Chief Keef, the rapper. Keef’s 30-year-old cousin Mario “BigGlo” Hess was shot to death on April 9. Barnes tweeted a reference to a Notorious B.I.G. lyric the next day.
“u Nobody until Somebody kill u u dats jst real Shyt.”
A friend quickly responded.
“More bodies BITCH This Chiraq.”
The following afternoon, Barnes was herself shot to death, hit as many as nine times. She was to be buried near her father, who reportedly was shot death on an Easter 16 years and thousands of murders ago.
Her death was followed by the April 15 shooting of Lil Jojo’s 16-year-old cousin Keno Blass. Keef’s cousin was buried on Friday, with the star rapper serving as a pallbearer. But if a rap war of sorts is behind some of the recent killings and gang rivalries are behind many more and a Facebook spat led to two of the murders, the common denominator in all the shootings is guns.
The war that now demands the president’s attention is the one in Chiraq.
Thanks to Michael Daly.
Chiraq.
On Easter weekend, 45 people were shot in the city, six of them children. Five youngsters under the age of 15—four girls and a boy—were shot in a playground where they had gone after Easter services at a nearby church.
Witnesses agree that a car pulled up and one of the occupants asked the youngsters if they were in a gang. There is some dispute about whether the youngsters even got a chance to say no before the people in the car started shooting.
The most seriously wounded, 11-year-old Tymisha Washington, was listed in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. She is expected to survive.
“Prayers Going Up Blessings Coming Down,” read a posting on her aunt’s Facebook page.
A Facebook argument had apparently sparked a completely unrelated shooting at the start of the weekend. Best friends Jordan Means, 16, and Anthony Bankhead, 18, got into the online spat with a man in his 30s. The man is said to have followed his final post by appearing in the flesh and shooting the two teens to death.
Two other men were fatally shot later in the weekend as they sat in a car that was also occupied by two kids, ages 3 and 7. The children were physically unharmed but no doubt will join those who are as mentally scarred by living in Chicago as were some combat veterans who returned from the war in Iraq. And this bloody Easter weekend was preceded by a weekend in which 37 people were shot, four of them fatally.
FBI Director James Comey happened to be in Chicago the following Monday, and he ascribed much of the violence to the gang culture so deeply ingrained in the city. But Comey had little to say about what Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy recognizes as the core problem.
“Until we do something about guns, don’t expect things to change overnight,” McCarthy said at a press conference that same day.
McCarthy noted that Chicago cops have seized 1,500 illegal guns so far this year, but the people caught with the weapons are all too often back on the street all too soon. “It’s like running on a hamster wheel,” McCarthy said of the effort to grapple with the problem. “We’re drinking from a fire hose, seizing these guns, and people are back out on the street. They’re not learning that carrying a firearm is going to have a serious impact on their lives.”
McCarthy invoked the memory of Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year-old who was killed by a stray round in 2013, just days after performing at Obama’s second inauguration. McCarthy noted that her suspected killer had been at liberty despite having been convicted of illegal gun possession just two months before.
“If he’s not out on the street, Hadiya Pendleton is out there being an honor student and continuing on with her life,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy emphasized that the Chicago Police Department is pursuing a wide range of strategies to stem the violence, much of which is gang-related. And the murder rate is actually down this year. But even the smartest policing by the most dedicated cops can only do so much in the absence of effective gun laws.
“If you don’t go to jail for gun possession, you continue to carry guns,” McCarthy said. “You continue to carry guns, and people get shot.”
Other people who have gotten shot in Chicago in recent days include 17-year-old Ronald Hayes, who was expected to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and who had promised to take his mother to the prom because she never had the opportunity to attend one. He was gunned down in February as he shoveled snow outside a neighbor’s home.
There was also 17-year-old Gakirah Barnes. Her Twitter moniker was @tyquannassassin, apparently in honor of a 13-year-old relative named Tyquann Tyler who was killed by a stray bullet in 2012. Barnes reportedly was allied with the rapper Lil Jay and the late rapper Lil JoJo, who was killed in 2012 by a not at all stray round after releasing video dissing Chief Keef, the rapper. Keef’s 30-year-old cousin Mario “BigGlo” Hess was shot to death on April 9. Barnes tweeted a reference to a Notorious B.I.G. lyric the next day.
“u Nobody until Somebody kill u u dats jst real Shyt.”
A friend quickly responded.
“More bodies BITCH This Chiraq.”
The following afternoon, Barnes was herself shot to death, hit as many as nine times. She was to be buried near her father, who reportedly was shot death on an Easter 16 years and thousands of murders ago.
Her death was followed by the April 15 shooting of Lil Jojo’s 16-year-old cousin Keno Blass. Keef’s cousin was buried on Friday, with the star rapper serving as a pallbearer. But if a rap war of sorts is behind some of the recent killings and gang rivalries are behind many more and a Facebook spat led to two of the murders, the common denominator in all the shootings is guns.
The war that now demands the president’s attention is the one in Chiraq.
Thanks to Michael Daly.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
4 Arrested by @Chicago_Police in Gang-Related Mass Shooting
Four people have been charged in the gang-related Chicago shooting involving an assault-style rifle that injured 13 people in a city park, including a 3-year old boy, police announced today.
"As of right now we have four offenders charged in this shooting, including the man who fired that military grade weapon and the man who supplied that military grade weapon," police superintendent Garry McCarthy told a press conference.
Tabari Young, 22, Bryon Champ, 21, Brad Jett, 22, and Kewane Gatewood, 20, were all charged with three counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, McCarthy said.
Young, police said, was the main shooter in last Thursday's incident in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the city's South Side. Champ, who police said also fired a gun, is a documented gang member who was convicted of a felony - unlawful use of a weapon by a felon - last year, but was only sentenced to boot camp, according to police. Gatewood, authorities said, supplied the military grade weapon and Jett participated as a lookout, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said that Champ was the "main player" in the incident, citing that Champ suffered a graze wound to his leg in a shooting earlier in the day that led to the retaliatory shooting at the basketball court in the Back of the Yards.
"If Bryon Champ is not on the street - as he shouldn't have been - this incident likely does not occur," McCarthy said. "If Champ is not on the street, there's no retaliation because there's no incident," he added. "This individual was the victim of gun violence and then became the offender of it."
Among the wounded was 3-year old Deonta Howard, who suffered a gunshot wound to his ear. Howard has undergone plastic surgery and is expected to recover.
Thursday's incident was only the latest in a string of tragic shootings in the city. Earlier this year 15-year old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed only days after performing at President Obama's inauguration.
McCarthy today reiterated his calls for stricter gun laws to help crack down on the city's gun violence problems. "Illegal guns and weapons designed for war do not belong on the streets of Chicago," he said.
"As of right now we have four offenders charged in this shooting, including the man who fired that military grade weapon and the man who supplied that military grade weapon," police superintendent Garry McCarthy told a press conference.
Tabari Young, 22, Bryon Champ, 21, Brad Jett, 22, and Kewane Gatewood, 20, were all charged with three counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, McCarthy said.
Young, police said, was the main shooter in last Thursday's incident in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the city's South Side. Champ, who police said also fired a gun, is a documented gang member who was convicted of a felony - unlawful use of a weapon by a felon - last year, but was only sentenced to boot camp, according to police. Gatewood, authorities said, supplied the military grade weapon and Jett participated as a lookout, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said that Champ was the "main player" in the incident, citing that Champ suffered a graze wound to his leg in a shooting earlier in the day that led to the retaliatory shooting at the basketball court in the Back of the Yards.
"If Bryon Champ is not on the street - as he shouldn't have been - this incident likely does not occur," McCarthy said. "If Champ is not on the street, there's no retaliation because there's no incident," he added. "This individual was the victim of gun violence and then became the offender of it."
Among the wounded was 3-year old Deonta Howard, who suffered a gunshot wound to his ear. Howard has undergone plastic surgery and is expected to recover.
Thursday's incident was only the latest in a string of tragic shootings in the city. Earlier this year 15-year old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed only days after performing at President Obama's inauguration.
McCarthy today reiterated his calls for stricter gun laws to help crack down on the city's gun violence problems. "Illegal guns and weapons designed for war do not belong on the streets of Chicago," he said.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Top 15 Cities for Murders, #Chicago is #1 #MurderCapitalUSA
1. Chicago | 500
2. New York | 419
3. Detroit | 386
4. Philadelphia | 331
5. Los Angeles | 299
6. Baltimore | 219
7. Houston | 217
8. New Orleans | 193
9. Dallas | 154
10. Memphis | 133
11. Oakland | 126
12. Phoenix | 124
13. St. Louis | 113
14. Kansas City | 105
15. Indianapolis | 101
2. New York | 419
3. Detroit | 386
4. Philadelphia | 331
5. Los Angeles | 299
6. Baltimore | 219
7. Houston | 217
8. New Orleans | 193
9. Dallas | 154
10. Memphis | 133
11. Oakland | 126
12. Phoenix | 124
13. St. Louis | 113
14. Kansas City | 105
15. Indianapolis | 101
Friday, September 20, 2013
List of 13 People Shot by Chicago Gang Members in Mass Shooting #MurderCapitalUSA
A 3-year-old boy, shot in the ear, in critical condition at Mount Sinai;
A 17-year-old girl, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital;
A 15-year-old boy shot in the arm, stabilized at Holy Cross;
A man, 27, shot in the leg and wrist, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
A man, 24, shot twice in the stomach, serious condition at Mount Sinia;
A man, 21, shot in the leg, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
A man, 41, shot in the buttocks, serious condition at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital;
A woman, 33, shot in the shoulder, condition stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital;
A man, 31, shot in the buttocks, condition stabilized at Northwestern;
A woman, 23, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at St. Anthony Hospital;
A man, 37, shot in the leg, in good condition at Stroger;
A man, 25, shot in the knee, in good condition at Northwestern;
And a man, 33, who drove himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park with a gunshot wound to the leg and who was treated and released.
A 17-year-old girl, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital;
A 15-year-old boy shot in the arm, stabilized at Holy Cross;
A man, 27, shot in the leg and wrist, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
A man, 24, shot twice in the stomach, serious condition at Mount Sinia;
A man, 21, shot in the leg, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
A man, 41, shot in the buttocks, serious condition at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital;
A woman, 33, shot in the shoulder, condition stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital;
A man, 31, shot in the buttocks, condition stabilized at Northwestern;
A woman, 23, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at St. Anthony Hospital;
A man, 37, shot in the leg, in good condition at Stroger;
A man, 25, shot in the knee, in good condition at Northwestern;
And a man, 33, who drove himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park with a gunshot wound to the leg and who was treated and released.
13 People Shot in Mass Shooting in Chicago, Gang Banger Shooter Still At-Large #MurderCapitalUSA
A work week that began with a mass shooting in a Washington D.D. Navy Yard, that left 12 victims dead concludes with a mass shooting in Chicago in which 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy, were wounded.
It happened Thursday at about 10:15 p.m. local time in a working-class neighborhood called Back of the Yards in Chicago's South Side, NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
She adds that "one witness told the Sun-Times that men fired at him from a car before turning toward a park. That's where the victims — several adults, two teenagers and the 3-year-old, were shot on a basketball court."
As of dawn Friday, Cheryl says, "no one had been taken into custody. Police were interviewing victims to determine the circumstances but say the shooting appears to be gang-related."
According to the Chicago Tribue, the 3-year-old "suffered a gunshot wound to the head at an ear that exited through his mouth, and was in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. The oldest victim, according to the Tribune, was 41 years old.
It happened Thursday at about 10:15 p.m. local time in a working-class neighborhood called Back of the Yards in Chicago's South Side, NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
She adds that "one witness told the Sun-Times that men fired at him from a car before turning toward a park. That's where the victims — several adults, two teenagers and the 3-year-old, were shot on a basketball court."
As of dawn Friday, Cheryl says, "no one had been taken into custody. Police were interviewing victims to determine the circumstances but say the shooting appears to be gang-related."
According to the Chicago Tribue, the 3-year-old "suffered a gunshot wound to the head at an ear that exited through his mouth, and was in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. The oldest victim, according to the Tribune, was 41 years old.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Chicago Ranked #1 in Murders #MurderCapitalofUS
While it is not a surprise, New York better move over, as the Windy City is now the murder capital of America.
According to new crime statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago had more homicides in 2012 than any other city in the country. There were 500 murders in Chicago last year, the FBI said, surpassing New York City, which had 419.
In 2011, there were 515 homicides in the Big Apple, compared with the 431 in Chicago. But as the Washington Post noted, residents of Chicago and New York were much less likely to be victims of a homicide than some Michigan residents. In Flint, for example, there were 63 killings — a staggering number when you consider Flint's population is 101,632 — "meaning 1 in every 1,613 city residents were homicide victims." In Detroit, where 386 killings occurred in 2012, 1 in 1,832 were homicide victims.
Guns were used in the vast majority of slayings in the United States last year. According to the FBI data, 69.3 percent involved a firearm.
Overall, violent crime — homicides and aggravated assaults — was up less than 1 percent in 2012, according to FBI data.
According to new crime statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago had more homicides in 2012 than any other city in the country. There were 500 murders in Chicago last year, the FBI said, surpassing New York City, which had 419.
In 2011, there were 515 homicides in the Big Apple, compared with the 431 in Chicago. But as the Washington Post noted, residents of Chicago and New York were much less likely to be victims of a homicide than some Michigan residents. In Flint, for example, there were 63 killings — a staggering number when you consider Flint's population is 101,632 — "meaning 1 in every 1,613 city residents were homicide victims." In Detroit, where 386 killings occurred in 2012, 1 in 1,832 were homicide victims.
Guns were used in the vast majority of slayings in the United States last year. According to the FBI data, 69.3 percent involved a firearm.
Overall, violent crime — homicides and aggravated assaults — was up less than 1 percent in 2012, according to FBI data.
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