June 19, 2018

USA: Chicago With Strict Gun Control Laws Has One Of The Worst Homicide Arrest Rates In The Nation. Analysis Finds, No Arrest in 74 Percent of Chicago Homicides. City And State Run By Democrats.

Chicago Tonight News
written by Nick Blumberg
Thursday June 14, 2018

The city of Chicago has one of the worst homicide arrest rates in the nation.

That’s according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the 50 largest cities in the United States. Over the course of 11 years, the Post found that 74 percent of homicides in Chicago resulted in no arrests. It also found that large swaths of the West and South Sides saw both high concentrations of killings and low rates of arrests.

And it found large swaths of the West and South Sides saw both high concentrations of killings and low rates of arrests.

Joining us to discuss those findings are Kevin Graham, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge 7; and the Rev. Marshall Hatch, pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in West Garfield Park. The Chicago Police Department was invited to participate in our discussion but did not respond.
Chicago Tribune
written by Madeline Buckley, Hannah Leone, Jeremy Gorner and Kyle Bentle
Tuesday June 19, 2018

The weekend began with seven people shot in just an hour on the South Side. It ended with 10 people shot in two attacks on the West Side.

By Monday morning, at least 56 people had been hit by gunfire in Chicago over the weekend. At least nine of them died, according to data kept by the Tribune.

It was the worst weekend for violence in the city this year. But more troubling, it was close to comparable weekends in 2016 and 2017, when gun violence hit levels not seen in Chicago in more than a decade.

"Most of Chicago celebrated and enjoyed this weekend," Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio told reporters, referring to Pride Fest on the North Side and various Father’s Day celebrations. "However, we saw an unacceptable and frustrating level of gun violence in several communities.

“There’s too many illegal guns on the street,” he added, echoing a constant theme of his boss, Superintendent Eddie Johnson. “They’re too easy to get.”

As bad as shootings have been in some parts of the city this year, overall they have been down substantially from the previous two years. But not last weekend, an analysis of Tribune data shows.

At least 59 people were shot in Chicago during the weekend of June 16 last year and again during the weekend of June 17 in 2016.

Weather was no doubt a factor. Temperatures climbed into the middle 90s both days, drawing more people into the street later into the night. According to police, that usually increases the odds of rivals running into each other or arguments escalating into gunfire.

Two of the city's most violent police districts bore the brunt of the weekend gunfire: 10 shot in Harrison, nine in bordering Ogden, the data show. The next highest was the Near West Side District: seven shot in two attacks. The Englewood District to the south also recorded seven shot.

About half the victims were in their 20s. Thirteen were in their teens. Seven were girls and young women.

The worst attack occurred as the weekend was winding down. Two cars circled a block where a party was being held in the 1300 block of South Loomis Street in University Village on the Near West Side and then at least two people opened fire.

Six people were hit, including a women in her 20s who was shot in the chest, left arm and head and died at the scene, police said. A 17-year-old boy was shot several times in the head. He was covered in a white sheet, but his bare arms, jean cuffs and boots were left exposed.

People gathered at the edge of the crime scene saw his arm and leg twitch slightly.

“Get up,” people yelled.

“He ain’t dead,” a woman cried.

Paramedics performed chest compressions on the 17-year-old as some in the crowd begged police to take the sheet off. Others spoke to the teen, encouraging him to pull through. The teen was carried into an ambulance and taken to Stroger Hospital in "very critical condition," according to police.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said he was trying to gather more information about the ambulance response. Riccio said the 17-year-old suffered a “catastrophic” wound to the head.

“This is a tragedy," Riccio said. "We are working through profiles and backgrounds to get an idea as to what could have prompted the shooting."

Another multiple shooting occurred hours earlier, about three miles away in Little Village.

Three men and a woman were standing on the street in the 2200 block of South Sacramento Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when a gunman walked up and began firing, police said. Their conditions ranged from critical to good.

Two children stood outside a home and watched as police shined flashlights across the sidewalk and placed evidence markers near shell casings. The children caught Annette Hernandez’s eye as she walked past.

“You see, there are kids running around,” she said. “Every night, it’s the same stuff.”

One of the weekend shootings occurred in a place that doesn't see a lot of violence: along the lake near Buckingham Fountain.

A 28-year-old man was with a group on the Lakefront Trail near Balbo Drive about 1:40 a.m. Sunday when there was an argument and shots were fired, according to police.

Travis Perry, 24, of Oak Forest, said he was sitting on a ledge with several friends when he heard four or five gunshots and felt a bullet whiz past his face. He grabbed his girlfriend and got on the ground. He noticed a man lying facedown. “There was blood coming out of his back.”

He took off his black shirt and used it to put pressure against the wound. Paramedics placed the man on a stretcher and moved him from the paved trail into an ambulance. He was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“It feels really good to have been able to help someone,” Perry said. “It’s crazy. You never think it’s going to happen right there next to Michigan Avenue and the lake and everything.”

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