(The Center Square) – Chicago city officials and community members are looking to address ongoing issues of crime in the city.
Crime in Chicago has been increasing over the past few months, with several violent weekends in which many have died. On Tuesday night, a group of individuals in the city ransacked a gas station while causing property damage to the building and to other vehicles in the area.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said these occurrences are becoming more rare.
“You have not heard any incident in the news about these congregants because we have been strategically, with law enforcement, along with other preventative agencies, to redirect these individuals who in some instances mean us no good,” Johnson said Wednesday.
Over the Father’s Day weekend, 75 people were shot, and 13 died from shootings on the city’s South and West sides. In Roseland, a Father’s Day gathering resulted in a father of four being killed after someone shot into the crowd. Other shootings included a 17-year-old girl being shot in the eye and a 14-year-old boy being shot multiple times walking down the street.
The Memorial Day holiday weekend saw 32 people shot.
Chicago Police Department Interim Superintendent Fred Waller said CPD needs to do a better job.
“Our heart goes out to the families. We just need to do better,” Waller said. “Try a little harder.”
The city council met on Wednesday and heard from community members about crime and other issues.
Chicago resident Melvin Bailey said the city needs to replace firearms with tools.
“If we want to get these guns out of their hands, we need to replace them with either a drill or a hammer,” Bailey said. “Trust me, that’s the only way that’s going to happen.”
Johnson also has pushed for more opportunities for teens as a way to address violent crime in the city and said fixing the issue is going to need to be a team effort.
“I am grateful that there has been a collaborative approach to curtail these types of gatherings that have led to chaos,” Johnson said. “We are going to continue to work with community groups, as we have been doing, along with our police force to get out in front of these trends.”
Youth homicides since Johnson has been in office have doubled since this time last year, according to Wirepoints analysis. Chicago has seen nine teens under the age of 19 die from violence in the past month compared to four during the same time frame last year.
