“Gun free,” black no-go zone
In a mass shooting following closely on the heels of Washington D.C.’s Navy Yard shooting, 13 people in Chicago were reportedly shot with what police are calling a “military-grade weapon” at Cornell South Park in the city’s South Side. Though no one died at the scene and most are expected to recover from their wounds, a three-year-old was reportedly shot in the face and is in critical condition. The news comes as a reminder that Chicago has, for years now, been the city with the highest number of homicides in the country.
Other victims include two 15-year-olds who were listed in stable condition, with the rest made up of adults ages 21 to 41. Three-year-old Deonta Howard, reportedly had part of her face shot off— and four others were listed as in serious condition, with the rest treated as stable and released within hours. No suspects have been arrested yet and Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced to cancel a planned trip to Washington, releasing a statement within hours of the news.
“Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago and betray all that we stand for,” he said. “The perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I encourage everyone in the community to step forward with any information and everyone in Chicago to continue their individual efforts to build stronger communities where violence has no place.”
As has often been the throughline in Chicago’s crime stats, investigators believe the Thursday night shooting was gang-related. The FBI’s annual crime report this week showed that the city of Chicago had 5000 homicides in 2012, up from 431 in 2011 and more than any single other American city. In a bit of relatively positive uptick, however, Chicago officials have said that homicides this year are below the 2012 pace.
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