Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said a bloody holiday weekend that saw at least nine people shot and killed and dozens others wounded “doesn’t wipe out” reductions in violent crime in the past two years.
Since Friday evening, at least nine people were shot and killed in Chicago, and at least 36 others were wounded.
“This doesn’t wipe out what has happened over the last two years, and this is a conversation that we’ve had time and time again,” Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Monday morning. “There’s no magic formula here. We have a plan, we have a strategy, and it’s hard work. That’s what it is. … It’s a day-by-day, minute-by-minute grind, and we’re into busy season. That’s what it is.”
Although murders in Chicago spiked to 516 in 2012 – only the second time homicides surpassed 500 since 2003 – they dropped to 415 last year, the lowest murder total for Chicago in nearly 50 years.
The superintendent said the vast majority of shootings in Chicago are gang-related, and detectives were working to determine “which of the hot conflicts” were to blame for the most recent spate of violence.
Among those killed were two men who were slain Sunday afternoon in the South Lawndale neighborhood. The victims were sitting in a Lincoln Navigator near the corner of 28th Street and Sawyer Avenue around 1 p.m., when an orange Hummer blocked their path. Two people wearing masks and armed with guns exited the Hummer, and sprayed the Navigator with nearly a dozen bullets, right near a police “blue light” camera.
Two men — 32-year-old Juan Ocon, and 19-year-old Timmy Bermudez — were shot and killed.
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SOURCE: CBS 2 Chicago
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