Both teens are expected to survive their injuries.
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In total, there were more than 449 homicides across the city from January 1 this year until the end of August, which was a jump of roughly 50 per cent on the same period in 2015, police said. Indeed, numerous Tribune’s readers, aware that they live in a city where someone is shot every hour and a half and murdered every eight, might not be all that disturbed – and might even welcome it – when the police manage to shoot at some evil-doer every five days. “We’re closing in on 6,000 recovered guns this year…”
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson joined WGN Morning News Thursday, and says the numbers are frustrating.
The Chicago Police is now working on a list of 14,000 individuals who are at higher risks of participating in gun violence due to prior offenses or crimes, as well, as investigating the upper risks of victims in the city.
On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel weighed in, saying, “We keep coming upon the same facts: repeat gun offenders who continually run in and out of the criminal justice system with no consequences, who are back on the streets wreaking havoc”, according to the Chicago Tribune. Numbers compiled by the Chicago Tribune show 2,829 shooting victims in Chicago this year through September 1, inching toward the 2,988 victims of gun violence in the city for all of last year. Unless something miraculous happens, Chicago is going to shatter the numbers from a year ago. “Those are individuals who are choosing this lifestyle”. Meanwhile, the rest of Chicago doesn’t seem to experience that much violence.
Something needs to be done, though, so that youths in our cities aren’t gunning down one another on a daily basis and innocent people can walk their babies down the road without being killed by a stray bullet. Two brothers who were on parole – one who spent six years in prison on a gun charge – were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. “We’re at an in-between stage right now”.
Johnson said he’s backing a bill being worked on by two Democrats, state Sen. “In LA, they have a law called, “You Use a Gun and You’re Done.’ That’s what we need here”. He says the department is focusing on getting illegal guns off the streets, but lawmakers need to implement harsher punishment for people caught with weapons. We don’t have that here. “So until we hold these repeat gun offenders accountable for their actions, we’re going to continue to see this violence”, Johnson said. It’s also important to note that the populations of NY (8.6 million) and Los Angeles (3.9 million) combined are 4-times the size of Chicago. Even when the media bothers to notice what’s happening in Chicago, they’re uninterested in most of the violence that’s occurring in neighborhoods across the city.
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Johnson explained to the press that shootings happen only in the West and South sides of the city. They hope to shine a spotlight on the economic, social and public safety challenges impacting poor communities of color in Chicago. And until they do, they can push and campaign on the promise that the next round of local, state or federal laws (whatever is the priority at the time) will finally start to turn things around.
