At 2:40 am on Monday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the face twice while sitting in the passenger seat of a car. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The unidentified driver said that two men wearing ski masks approached the vehicle, shot the boy, and fled. The boy was one of 42 people shot in Chicago this weekend. He was among 11 who were murdered.
The unrelenting shootings might lead you to think that gun violence is the cause of all the injuries and murders in Chicago. You wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that if you looked at news reports from there and other large cities across America.
For example, a man was stabbed at a Red Line subway station at 2:44 am on Thursday after arguing with another man in the group. In a separate incident, a man was seriously injured Friday evening when he was pushed onto the subway tracks and struck by an oncoming train at another Red Line station. A 52-year-old man was stabbed to death at 3:15 am on Friday. His assailant was a 29-year-old man known to him.
Eleven people were murdered in Chicago over the long holiday weekend. Other than the 16-year-old boy, they ranged in age from 23 to 34. A total of 31 other people were shot. That certainly ruined Thanksgiving for a lot of families.
Of the 11 murders, six occurred in the wee hours of the morning over the 4-day holiday weekend. As comedian Richard Pryor once said, “Nothing good happens after midnight.”
NYC ALSO SEES A RISE IN SHOOTINGS
New York City is giving Chicago a run for its money. At least 11 New Yorkers were shot on Black Friday alone. Unlike Chicago, none of the NYC shooting victims died. Shootings in NYC have risen a staggering 95.8 percent compared to last year.
But disturbing data from the FBI shows that Chicago murders have spiked more than 37 percent compared to last year. Is this because of, or in spite of, the Coronavirus?
Whatever the reason, both Chicago and New York City have witnessed unprecedented increases in murders and shootings over the past few years. Neither Democrat mayor seems able to stem the violence that has plagued their cities.
SO WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot called the violence over Memorial Day weekend “a bloodbath.” That weekend in May saw 49 people shot, 10 of them fatally. Over the Independence Day weekend, a whopping 87 people were shot and 17 of them died. This Thanksgiving weekend saw 42 people shot, 11 of them fatally. By her standards, every weekend this year has been a bloodbath.
But the last press conference held by the Chicago mayor to address the violence was in mid-September. Does she even care anymore?
One has to wonder if anyone is safe in a city where masked gunmen can walk up to a car and shoot a boy in the face and then just walk away.
Image from: abc7chicago.com
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