Chicago Mayor and former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel raised eyebrows throughout the country Monday, telling his city’s residents that neighborhoods need to “step up” and help stem the escalating gun-violence sweeping the region.
“Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said no arrests have been made yet in the flurry of weekend shootings, which he said were not random, and were ‘fueled by gang conflicts.’ Instead, after 11 people were killed and 70 were shot in ongoing violence, Johnson said the onus was on the communities to take responsibility,” writes Fox News.
“I hear people holding us accountable all the time but I never hear people saying ‘these individuals out here on the street need to stop pulling the trigger.’ I never hear that,” Johnson said. “It’s the same individuals that continually commit those crimes. Where is the accountability for them?”
“My relatives, people I grew up with in the city call me all the time,” he said. “What worries me is in certain areas of the city we begin to normalize these things.”
Read the full story at Fox News.
GANGLAND CHAOS: Chicago Activists SHUT DOWN HIGHWAY to ‘Target Affluent’
Anti-gun protesters shut-down a major highway in the nation’s third-largest city Thursday, creating traffic chaos as Chicago police scrambled to contain the mass demonstrations.
According to the Associated Press, the planned march in the Windy City effectively stopped traffic along Lake Shore Drive, with demonstrators telling local news they’re “willing to be arrested” to highlight the region’s spiraling crime crisis.
Lake Shore Drive traffic shut down from Irving Park to Fullerton Ave. Ashland Ave and Western Ave can be used as alternative routes. #LakeShoreMarch
— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) August 2, 2018
Chicago highway closure latest US protest targeting affluent (from @AP) https://t.co/rV7fZLFVa9
— Roger Schneider (@RogSchneider) August 2, 2018
“I’m hoping we have enough to…block traffic, to be a disruptive force” said one of the event’s organizers. “This is an act of civil disobedience.”
“You want to go where they chill out and relax,” he added.
Read the full story at the AP.
GANGLAND: 53 Shot, 10 DEAD Over the Weekend in ‘GUN FREE’ Chicago
Gun violence in the nation’s third largest city spiked over the weekend, leaving 53 people injured and at least ten dead as Chicago struggles to clamp-down on the escalating gang clashes sweeping the region.
According to ABC Chicago, city officials plan to hold high-level meetings Monday to ease public concerns after the bloody weekend; citing recent statistics that show gun deaths down so far this year.
“The violence has spilled over into Monday morning, including a murder that happened just after midnight in the Roseland neighborhood not far from Chicago State University,” writes ABC. “A person in a ski-mask fired shots at two people standing in front of a home. A 50-year-old man died a 55-year-old woman was hurt.”
“Detectives are working around the clock to investigate the incidents, build a timeline of events and identify any shooter,” said the Chicago Police Chief. “We’ll also be conducting coordinated enforcement missions to target individuals that are driving the violence in these areas and focus on where we believe retaliatory violence may occur.”
Read the full story here.