At least 55 people were shot during the weekend, seven of them fatally, in what was a slight decrease from the previous two weekends.
The weekend total came a day after July crime statistics were released, revealing more than 100 homicide cases for the second July in a row.
But when asked about the numbers, Superintendent David Brown spent a good portion of a Monday morning news conference again lambasting the courts for releasing people the department has arrested, particularly those accused of murder.
For the second week in a row, he also cited a Tribune editorial noting at least 90 people charged with murder were on electronic monitoring as of May 17. Brown then posed his own question to reporters in the room: If even alleged murderers are being released, how many more violent criminals charged with lesser crimes are being released?
“If we can’t get murder right, we can’t get lower-level crimes,” he said of the court system.
He cited one case in particular in which a man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder and had been released on electronic monitoring.
“And yet with all of that hard work from the Chicago Police Department … if you release (the man) who was charged with two murders and an attempted murder … we’re going to do great work, we’re going to do historic work, but we’re going to continue to run in place,” Brown said.
“To see this man back in the neighborhood, it’s madness,” he added.
In the most recent shootings Sunday into Monday, a man was fatally shot after he went outside to investigate when a brick was thrown through his front window, according to police.
Police were called to the 12100 block of South LaSalle Street around 10:50 p.m. Sunday to investigate and found the 35-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he died. He was identified as Jerome Jenkins of the same block where he was killed, according to information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Around 9:40 p.m. Sunday, a man, 35, was approached by a gunman as he stood outside with family members in the 4800 block of West Nelson Street. The armed man asked if there was a problem, and then the two men began struggling over the weapon.
Both ended up being shot by the same bullet, police said.
The 35-year-old was hit once in the arm and the bullet went through and then hit the gun’s owner in the jaw area, according to authorities. Both men were taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital; the victim’s condition was stabilized and the gunman was in critical condition, police said.
In his remarks, Brown stressed that the number of guns taken off the street this year — more than 7,300 to year-to-date — is on pace to top 12,000. More than 100 guns were recovered during the weekend alone, he said.
Brown has made a point to talk about the number of weapons taken off the street, he said, because it’s dangerous work for police and because of the potential for loss of life if those guns remain in the hands of people intent on doing harm.
“Guns in the wrong hands, in violent, repeat offenders’ hands, is driving the violence,” Brown said.
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