Politics
Inside another bloody Chicago weekend that saw police officer Ella French and 10 others killed and nearly 80 shot
A WEEKEND of bloodshed has rocked Chicago yet again following two days of violence that saw a police officer among the 11 killed and nearly 80 shot.
The Windy City is facing a spree of gun violence it is struggling to control with more than 1,000 shootings on its streets in the last six years alone.
FacebookOne of those killed this weekend was Officer Ella French.[/caption]
APChicago police officers salute as the ambulance carrying the body of French[/caption]
One of those killed this weekend was Officer Ella French. The 29-year-old had just returned from maternity leave when she was gunned down on Saturday.
She was killed following a traffic stop and a male colleague who was also involved in the shooting is in critical condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Her death was one of 11 recorded this weekend after a security guard, 40, was shot dead for reportedly refusing his attacker entry to a club, ABC7 reports.
A 37-year-old man was shot twice in the neck and three times in the back; later a man, 25, was hit three time in the stomach and died.
Then, in the early hours of Sunday a man, 47, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his car.
Later that morning, a man, 30, was shot dead on the street.
GUN VIOLENCE
A total of 73 people were shot over the weekend including 16 in three mass shootings, figures show.
The violence plaguing the streets of Chicago last week saw a four-year-old girl fatally shot after another child found a gun inside a house and the weapon apparently accidentally discharged, police said.
Up until last weekend just two men had been convicted in connection with one of the 212 mass shooting incidents since 2016, The Chicago Sun Times reports.
There had been just one person charged over one of 39 mass shootings in the city this year, the outlet added.
‘GOD TOOK THE WRONG KID’
Following Officer French’s death her brother Andrew said: “God took the wrong kid.”
The car involved in her shooting was carrying three people — two men and a woman, police said.
During the stop, someone from inside the vehicle opened fire on the police, and law enforcement returned fire.
The men who were in the car were taken into custody Saturday night, according to the police.
One had been shot and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition.
The female suspect was arrested Sunday morning, according to Chicago Police Department Supt David Brown.
Brown said the department “preliminarily” believes the hospitalized male passenger was the one who fired on officers, including French.
‘JUST STOP’
So far in 2021, 38 CPD officers have been shot or shot at.
Eleven of those officers were struck, and this officer is the first to die this year.
In 2020 79 officers were shot at or shot. Brown said this year’s number is a 500 per cent increase of officers shot at or shot compared with 2019.
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At a Sunday news conference, Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged Chicagoans to end the acrimony between ardent police proponents who say officers are hampered by overly burdensome rules and staunch critics who say officers act with impunity.
“Stop. Just stop,” she said.
“This constant strife is not what we need in this moment.”
APThe Windy City is facing a spree of gun violence it is struggling to control with more than 1,000 shootings on its streets in the last six years alone[/caption]
Twitter/Chicago PoliceViolence is plaguing the streets of Chicago[/caption]
APMayor Lori Lightfoot said: ‘This constant strife is not what we need in this moment’[/caption]
