Kim Foxx says Lori Lightfoot is “wrong” to publicly discuss fatal shooting, says mayor was wrong on facts but should “tell the truth” instead

Facing sharp criticism after his office dismissed charges against five suspects in a fatal shootout in Austin, Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx on Tuesday slammed Mayor Lori Lightfoot for sounding the alarm on the case and said the mayor was wrong on the facts.

But soon after, Lightfoot brushed off Foxx’s claims and announced that she had effectively sidelined it by asking U.S. Attorney John Lausch to review the evidence of the Friday morning gang shooting in Austin, which made a gunman dead and two suspects injured.

“I also contacted the US attorney to ask him to also assess the evidence that was there to see if there was a possibility of federal charges,” Lightfoot told reporters.

Dueling press conferences reveal the stark division between Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor herself, and the county’s top law enforcement official on the evidence needed to prosecute the suspects Chicago police had hoped for. Foxx would charge with first degree murder and aggravated assault and battery.

“Whatever evidence needs to be gathered, the police department will be Johnny there and make sure we get it,” Lightfoot after appearing in Pilsen with Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge , during an unrelated event. “But it is, for me, a very convincing case.”

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

On Tuesday morning, Foxx told reporters it was “wrong” for Lightfoot to publicly discuss the details of the high-profile case, alleging that some of the mayor’s previous statements on the evidence “were just not true.”

“I was very honestly mortified by what happened yesterday, especially because the mayor, as a former prosecutor, knows that what she did yesterday was inappropriate,” Foxx said in his statement. press conference at Englewood.

The reprimand came after Lightfoot and five members of the West Side City Council expressed concerns on Monday over the general dismissal of the case and urged Foxx to at least reconsider the accusation of two of the alleged instigators.

While Foxx won’t say what she thinks Lightfoot was wrong, she noted that Detective Chief Brendan Deenihan admitted in a budget hearing on Monday that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against the five members. warring factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang. .

Deenihan also admitted that police video footage did not clearly show some of the shooters and that none of those arrested were willing to cooperate with investigators. Asked about the comments on Tuesday, Lightfoot said she planned to speak directly to Deenihan and insisted that her boss, the Superintendent. David Brown, “disagrees with a decision not to charge.”

The state attorney’s office previously told the Sun-Times that “there was insufficient evidence to meet our burden of proof and approve the felony charges,” but Lightfoot disputed this claim because it appeared to refer to footage of the POD camera of the police who captured the shooting.

The footage, which circulated online, appears to show two people firing shots next to two waiting Dodge Chargers. When a police car stops, one of the shooters jumps into one of the waiting cars, while the other remains lying in the street.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

Lightfoot noted that two suspects were ultimately found with firearms “used in this shootout,” a claim supported by a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation. She said investigators also collected body-worn cameras and board video from officers in Chicago and Oak Park, where the source said one of the suspects was apprehended after crashing. one of the Charger.

Deenihan said he believed prosecutors might lay less serious charges against at least some of the suspects, although Foxx noted that the cops had not asked for any further charges. Although she declined to discuss evidence related to the ongoing investigation, Foxx said her office needed a victim, witness or someone else to link a suspect to a crime , even if it is filmed.

“So that we can lay charges in a case, it’s not just we saw a video of something going on,” Foxx said. “We have to be able to say that the person we arrested and charged is the same person who committed the act.”

Lightfoot conceded “there are circumstances where we absolutely need to have a witness to identify who did something”, but noted that this shooting was captured on “several videotapes” as she wondered why no charges – even disturbing the peace – had been filed in connection with the shooting.

“We cannot send a message that everything is fine and you get a pass to photograph a residence in broad daylight, filmed, and no consequences will happen to you,” she said. “This cannot be a world we live in.”

We do not know if the federal government will get involved. A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

Foxx: “It’s not me pointing fingers”

Amid the dispute, Foxx publicly requested to meet with the Lightfoot, Brown and Zone 5 police chiefs to address his concerns about recent investigations and information that has been leaked to the media.

Lightfoot later confirmed that she and Foxx would meet. Police spokespersons did not respond to a request for comment.

Police in Zone 5, who are investigating crimes in parts of the west, north and northwest sides, were already at odds with the state attorney’s office over other high-profile cases prosecutors have reported. refused to deal with, including fatal shooting from a member of the National Guard. Chrys Carjaval in July and Serenity Broughton, 7, in August. Foxx apparently referred to these cases when she insisted that it was not part of her job to “judge cases in the media, nor to make politics on the death of children, elders. fighters and people from our community “.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

“We would expect our partners, especially those who have served as prosecutors, to recognize that,” Foxx said, firing a not-so-veiled blow at Lightfoot. “And more importantly, if you engage in this, [they] would tell the truth. Tell the truth.”

Facing new criticism that it is low on crime, Foxx has also apparently sought to shift some of the blame on the police department amid the continued rise in violence in the city. Of the 13,374 city-wide shootings since he took office in 2016 and July this year, Foxx told reporters, police have only made arrests in 2,447, or 18 percent of them. they.

“I’m not the one pointing the finger. … I am not playing the victim, ”she insisted. “It’s us in the state attorney’s office who want to work with our law enforcement partners, because when we know we have so many unresolved shootings, there is a feeling that the people can get away with it with impunity, making our communities less secure. ”

Contribution: Cheyanne Daniels