The weather is warming in The Windy City, and that means there will finally be relief from the ravages of winter. Citizens, locked inside during the days of bitter cold and icy winds, have flung open their windows to let the spring air circulate throughout their stuffy apartments.
The kids are playing ball in the city’s parks, although far fewer today than half a century ago. The basketball courts are full, as are the soccer fields.
Families are once again walking along the lakeshore, and lovers are walking the Magnificent Mile shopping for their weddings.
And Chicago’s gangsters have come out of hibernation to wreak havoc on the innocents.
At least 42 people have been shot, eight fatally, in shootings across Chicago over the weekend, police said.
The shootings took place from 6 p.m. Friday until 11:59 p.m. Sunday night and the victims range in age from 16 to 65.
The latest shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. Sunday in the 3000-block of North Winthrop Avenue Edgewater, where a fight occurred between three people on the sidewalk. One person began shooting at the two victims, hitting them both.
Also among this weekend’s shootings was in River North, where there’s been a lot of concern about crime recently.
River North is not West Garfield Park, where the rate of shootings is 20 times that of the Loop. The area is famous for its nightlife and expensive retail stores, and it’s a vibrant artist’s hub.
Someone tell that to the bangers who are beginning to target residents.
A man in his 20s was critically wounded Saturday night when he confronted the gunman, following a previous incident in the 100-block of West Hubbard Street around 10 p.m.
The man shot him multiple times. He taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
“The number of illegal weapons on the street has never been higher and when you combine that with alcohol, with fighting and conflict, you have all the ingredients there for a violent weekend,” 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins said.
The mayhem in the Loop, the result of hundreds of kids running around committing acts of vandalism and jumping innocent bystanders, has gotten out of control.
“They’re seeing larger crowds of juveniles than they can handle,” Alderman Hopkins said. “We had at least 400 by some estimates. During the peak moment of mayhem, it was over 400. We just didn’t have enough officers to contain the violence.”
Ten people were arrested, with eight of them juveniles. .
Alderman Hopkins said we need to crack down on crime ahead of summer and have more officers on the street.
We’ve been talking about this for two months,” he said. “We knew the warm weather was coming and so there was no shock in terms of what happened it was just a lack of resources.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is allowing this to happen. She’s terrified of backlash from members of the black community who are demanding no backsliding on “police reform” and the changes put in place by state’s attorney Kim Foxx regarding no bail for “non-violent” crimes and light sentences.
It wouldn’t matter if Lightfoot filled the jails. It’s far too late to retrieve the situation. The tiny enclaves of security are disappearing as criminals run wild in the streets in a dystopian nightmare that everyone on the right predicted and no one on the left heeded.
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