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At least 10 people were shot dead in two separate mass shootings in different parts of Chicago on Wednesday, authorities said, prompting some lawmakers to shake their heads as violent crime in the city continues to skyrocket.
The most recent shooting took place just before 12:10 p.m. in the Gresham neighborhood, which has seen several shootings this year, the Chicago Police Department said.
A police spokeswoman told the Chicago-Sun-Times that a group was on a sidewalk when three gunmen exited a vehicle in an alleyway and opened fire. Four men and a woman were shot, police said.
ARMED VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO KILLS 40 BLOWS, 11 KILLS, INCLUDING A RAPPER EMBUSTING AFTER LEAVING PRISON
The woman, 27, was shot in the hip and a 40-year-old man was shot in the face. It remains in critical condition. A 32-year-old man was shot in the lower back and a 50-year-old man was shot in the side. Both were in critical condition.
The latest victim, a 36-year-old man, was shot in the ankle and refused to seek treatment on the spot. He then went to the hospital.
The shooting took place outside of Target Area DevCorp, a nonprofit anti-violence group, Autry Phillips, the executive director, told Fox News the victims were not gang members and were standing by in a corner where people were hanging out and conversing normally.
“These guys weren’t carrying guns around the corner like some do. It’s not that group,” he told Fox News.
Phillips noted that groups like his connect with community members on a personal level.
“Our police are here to serve and protect,” Phillips said. “(But) They can’t sit with a guy for two or three hours and help him figure out why he shouldn’t pick up that gun and go fight back.”
The shooting occurred hours after another on the city’s West Side, in which four women and a man were injured shortly after midnight, according to police data. The group was standing outside when approached by a man who started shooting, police said. Two women, aged 23 and 29, were both shot in the buttocks.
An 18-year-old woman was shot in the left leg and another woman, 34, was shot in the thigh and refused to go to hospital.
A 25-year-old man was shot in each leg. All had to survive. No arrests were made in either of the shootings. Fox News contacted Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office but did not receive an immediate response.
There have been 1,688 shootings in Chicago this year through Sunday, an 11% jump from the same time last year, according to police figures.
Alderman Anthony Napolitano slammed Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx for refusing to prosecute some suspected criminals and lawmakers for continuing their efforts to cut police budgets amid the upsurge in criminality.
“There are a handful of us who just want to fix the problem,” he told Fox News. “The others are playing the political game.
“It’s just a matter of supporting party affiliation to free more people from prison,” added Napolitano, who represents the city’s 41st quarter. “The alternative to liberation … is probably the most astronomical peak in crime, if not just in the city of Chicago, but in the whole of the United States.”
Alderman Raymond Lopez, an alderman in Chicago’s 15th District and a frequent Lightfoot critic, blamed her, saying she was not up to the task of keeping residents safe.
“The carnage continues in our beloved city as yet another mass shootout takes place in the streets of Lightfoot’s Chicago,” he told Fox News. “She has no plan to keep Chicagoans safe, arrogantly refusing to consider alternatives after her policies continue to fail our residents. Her politics and pride are killing the people of Chicago.”
Napolitano also noted that Lightfoot, a Democrat, rejected then-President Trump’s offer to send federal agents to the city last year to help local law enforcement stop the upsurge in the criminality. The mayor met with President Joe Biden earlier this month following a bloody July 4 weekend in which more than 100 people were shot and 19 were killed.
“Now she says to the guy who is under the blue flag of the Democratic Party ‘Yes you can come here … and I will take your federal help and yes I need federal help” “he said. declared.
Lightfoot refused Trump’s help “because she didn’t want to make him look good,” Napolitano said.
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Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown met with Biden earlier in the week and other law enforcement officials across the country to discuss strategies to tackle the increase in violent crime with which many cities are struggling.
Chicago had 284 murders on Sunday. Lopez previously told Fox News that the city is on the verge of having 800 murders by the end of 2021.
The largest mass shooting in the city this year took place on March 14 when 15 people were shot – two fatally – at a party. Last year, another 15 people were shot dead outside a Gresham funeral home, but no one has died.
In an effort to tackle gun violence, Napolitano said Wednesday he would introduce an ordinance “which I hope will reduce gang violence” that Foxx “refuses to deal with.”
The legislation will add fines for illegal possession of a firearm, looting, graffiti and acting in a crowd as well as increased penalties for other offenses.
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