Chicago police say 24 people were shot over Mother’s Day weekend in the Windy City, with six shot fatally.
ABC 7 reports that one man was shot while standing in a kitchen, and the gunfire came from the alley outside. Another man was killed in West Englewood while standing on the sidewalk, and a woman was shot in South Lawndale.
Two more men were killed in a shooting in Chicago’s Far South Side, and the sixth deceased victim was near the front lawn of that shooting when he was shot in the chest and ultimately died of his wounds.
The Mother’s Day weekend violence was not confined to adults, however, as a 12-year-old boy was shot while standing on the sidewalk in a residential neighborhood. He remains hospitalized in good condition.
Police appear to have made zero arrests in the weekend’s murder spree, which may have been lessened by the holiday’s impact.
Apparently, just last weekend the city recorded 32 shootings, including 7 who were shot fatally.
Perhaps more than before in recent memory, violence in Chicago has become a lightning rod for conservatives seeking to prove Democrats cannot manage large cities.
Embattled Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, has presided over continued violence in the city, even as she has pushed for repressive COVID-19 policies and threatened to arrest those who disobey her COVID orders.
More recently, Lightfoot gained nationwide scorn after Chicago concocted a plan to give away $12.5 million worth of gas cards that feature her name prominently. Conservatives call it a re-election “gimmick” to sway voters.
“What’s more important,” asked Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, “A senior that doesn’t have heat or to give out free gas cards as a promotional gimmick for a re-election campaign?”
His colleague, Gilbert Villegas, agreed that Lightfoot’s name should not be on the gas cards, saying “I don’t think that’s a good look.”
