Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot deflected growing criticism from her handling of recent riots in the nation’s third largest city; saying the looting along a famous tourist district was a “planned attack” from “organized criminals.”
“When people showed up on Michigan Avenue in the downtown area with U-Haul trucks and cargo vans, and sophisticated equipment used to cut metal, and the methods that were used, and how quickly it got spun up … that wasn’t any spontaneous reaction,” Lightfoot told Time magazine.
Mayor calls Chicago looting "a planned attack" https://t.co/k7gOk9rt41 pic.twitter.com/g7YUijWmya
— The Hill (@thehill) August 12, 2020
She added: “To be sure, there are people that did join in that were motivated by lots of different reasons, and certainly were motivated by social media posts encouraging people to come downtown. But the core of what happened — that’s organized criminal activity … It was a planned attack.”
Read the full report at The Hill.
CHICAGO SPIRALS: 100 People Arrested, 13 Police Injured as Looters Target Windy City’s Tourism District
More than 100 people were arrested overnight Monday and at least 13 officers were injured as hundreds of looters targeted shops in Chicago’s downtown tourism district.
“This was straight up, felony criminal conduct,” said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “This was an assault on our city.”
“Those arrested were expected to face charges including looting, disorderly conduct, battery against police. Lightfoot said that the city has activated a neighborhood protection program,” reports the Associated Press. “The unrest began shortly after midnight and anti-police graffiti was seen in the area of the Magnificent Mile, which is one of Chicago’s most-visited tourist attractions. Hours earlier, dozens of people had faced off with police after officers shot and wounded a person Sunday in the Englewood neighborhood, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.”
Bridges raised in Chicago to prevent downtown access after widespread looting breaks out https://t.co/g8x1YPpW4G pic.twitter.com/lLeVPubknE
— The Hill (@thehill) August 10, 2020
🚨 “LOOTING AND CHAOS” 🚨
Do you feel safer with radical Democrats are in charge? https://t.co/W7XcGw3dRM— Marc Lotter – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@marc_lotter) August 10, 2020
Read the full report here.
CHICAGO SPIRALS: 20 People Shot Monday, 2 Killed Hours After Funeral Home Shoot-Out
From Fox News:
Just hours after at least 14 people were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside of a funeral home on Chicago’s South Side Tuesday evening, two men were killed in the city in separate shootings, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
In one incident, a 30-year-old was fatally shot while sitting on a porch with a 32-year-old man. They were outside a home on West Morgan Street on the far South Side around 11 p.m. when two men approached them and opened fire, according to the Sun-Times.
The 32-year-old suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and is reportedly in fair condition.
A 28-year-old man was shot in the chest and pronounced dead in a separate drive-by shooting around an hour later.
Neither man has been identified and no arrests have been made. The investigations are ongoing, according to the Sun-Times.
Less than six hours earlier, attendees leaving a funeral for a man reportedly killed in a shooting last week were fired upon by suspects in a speeding car.
Read the full report at Fox News.