Chicago crimewave spikes as police budget is cut
Chicago Alderman Anthony Napoltano speaks out as crime worsens in Chicago
Five people were killed and 48 were wounded – including three boys, ages 14 and 15 – in shootings over the weekend in Chicago, police said Monday.
There were 38 shootings in the Windy City from 6 p.m. Friday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, with victims ranging in age from 14 to 54, Chicago Police Department records show.
In one of the earliest shootings, two teenagers were discovered at about 10:05 p.m. Friday with gunshot wounds in a car in East Garfield Park. The youngest victim, 15, was shot in the neck, while the other, 19, suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and arms, police said. Both were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries.
Then, roughly 10 minutes later, a 14-year-old boy was on the porch of an address in the West Garfield Park neighborhood when he was shot in the neck, CPD said. The boy was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but witnesses have not cooperated with police, authorities said.
Investigators are still working to determine if the victim was the intended target, but sources said he is not believed to have a history with CPD.
Two 16-year-olds were struck shortly before midnight while they were walking in the Chatham neighborhood and are not believed to have been the intended targets, police said. Their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.
And just before 12:30 a.m. Saturday, a 47-year-old woman was "caught in the crossfire" while driving in the area of South Kedzie Avenue, police said. The woman was shot in the face while people inside two other vehicles were exchanging gunfire, according to authorities. She was hospitalized and is expected to survive.
Shootings aside, a person driving a BMW along North Broadway struck a man and a woman, both of whom are 39, while they were crossing the street at Irving Park Road, police said. The male driver then allegedly performed a U-turn and traveled in the opposite direction, striking a 55-year-old man who was trying to help the other two victims.
The driver crashed into a fence and was subsequently arrested. The 55-year-old man and 39-year-old woman were taken to an area hospital with critical head injuries. The third victim was in good condition.
Charges against the man were pending as of Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s civilian accountability agency is investigating videos showing a White police officer confronting and grabbing a Black woman walking her dog at a park after hours.
CHICAGO POLICE INVESTIGATE VIDEOS OF WHITE OFFICER CONFRONTING BLACK WOMAN WALKING DOG
The Chicago-based firm, Saulter Law P.C., identified the woman as Nikkita Brown and called the incident "an obvious case of racial profiling."
The officer approached Brown at 12:12 a.m. Saturday because she was in Lincoln Park, near the lakefront, walking her dog after the park was already closed, Brown’s attorney, Keenan J. Saulter, said in a statement.
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CPD said Sunday it was "aware of a video circulating on social media" regarding an incident involving an officer and a woman walking her dog at North Avenue Beach. The department said it "promptly referred" the matter to Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), the civilian oversight agency, to investigate the matter further.
Asked about the incident at a press conference Monday, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said he has not made a decision on whether or not to strip the officer involved of his police powers or place him on administrative duty pending further investigation.
He said the woman was not arrested.
"We don’t have an update," Brown said. "Obviously, this is something viral on video, so I just ask the public to allow COPA to do its job in getting to the bottom of what happened."
