Chicago experienced another bloody weekend in the city that left 64 people shot, including 13 that were fatally wounded, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Since January, murders in Chicago are up 39% compared to the same period last year. The Chicago Police Department recorded 353 murders as of July 5 – 99 more than it saw in the first six months of 2019.
Shooting incidents are also up 42% compared to last year, totaling 1,448 in the first six months of 2020.
On Monday, Chicago police superintendent David Brown asked for patience from the public while he finalizes a plan to combat the city’s crime.
“At some point, I’ll welcome the criticism, but not before it starts. It’s not even created yet,” Supt. David Brown told reporters regarding his plan, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The superintendent’s plan includes creating a new unit of officers to be dispatched to violent areas throughout the city.
“We need to have the flexibility to add more resources when we see a hot spot flare up with gang conflicts or some other kind of violence driver. That’s the strategic importance of this [new unit],” said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “But we need to make sure that we put the safeguards in place so that we don’t have the kind of challenges that we’ve had in years past.”
Among the victims of last weekend’s violence was fifteen-year-old Terrance Malden, who was shot Friday on the South Side. Five more teenagers were wounded in separate shootings by Monday morning.
The staggering numbers are a drop from the violence that struck Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend. Seventy-nine people were shot, 15 fatally, over the holiday weekend, including 11 minors. Two of the wounded children died from their injuries.
Mayor Lightfoot acknowledged concerns that the Chicago Police Department’s violent-crime units have become overly aggressive in the past, but she is confident that Supt. Brown’s version will be different.
“The superintendent is very cognizant of the challenges that existed with these groups before and putting in, particularly, safeguards to make sure there’s proper supervision and accountability,” Lightfoot said.
The most recent fatal shooting occurred Monday morning, leaving a 27-year-old man dead after someone fired shots from a vehicle that struck the man in the head, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Less than an hour before that, a 26-year-old man was gunned down while he was standing on the sidewalk on the West Side, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
