A seven-year-old kid was fatally wounded by a stray bullet on the West Side of Chicago, according to officials on Thursday, just hours after woke Mayor Lori Lightfoot suggested giving herself an annual wage raise to keep up with inflation.
At least one bullet entered the child’s home on the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue during the Wednesday gunfight, which occurred in Humboldt Park at 8:22 p.m.
The as-yet-unidentified child was in the bathroom when shots rang out, according to police, with one of the stray bullets entering the home and striking him in the stomach – just weeks after a three-year-old was fatally shot while riding in his mother’s SUV in front of his horrified siblings in Chicago.
The boy was soon taken to a local hospital in severe condition, where he underwent life-saving surgery.
However, despite the physicians’ best efforts, the man succumbed to his injuries some hours later and was proclaimed dead.
Detectives are currently studying private surveillance footage in an effort to identify and apprehend the fugitive shooters.
Multiple shell casings were located in an alley behind the boy’s residence, where it is thought the gunfire originated.
Since Lightfoot took office in late 2019 crime rates have skyrocketed to levels not seen in decades. This incident is the latest blow to the city’s image, which has been deteriorating under his administration. Not readily apparent was a motivation.
“This is tragic. Any person who gets shot in the city is tragic,’ Detective Chief Ron Pontecore said soon before the boy died of his injuries at the renowned Stroger Hospital on Wednesday.
“When it’s a small child like this, an innocent child, purportedly in the safety of their own house, it’s awful and something we take very seriously,” the investigator said, adding that an investigation was already begun.
Pontecore told reporters just before midnight at the crime scene, “We’re going to deploy a lot of resources to the area to attempt to get to the bottom of this and determine who’s responsible.”
As the officer said, gunshots could still be seen littering the back lane behind the house. According to Pontecore, officers assumed the deadly shot originated from that direction.
Multiple rounds were fired during the confrontation, and a single bullet wounded the child in the stomach, according to the police, who confirmed that multiple shots were fired.
At least one other member of the boy’s family was inside the residence throughout the alleged gun duel, according to police, with the family member informing detectives that the victim was washing his hands in the bathroom when he was shot.
Officers then received additional reports of gunfire near the residence at Rockwell Street and Potomac, followed by a call regarding the child’s injuries.
Police stated that they do not believe anyone inside the apartment was the intended target of the shooting, which took place in a typically violent area of the Windy City.
Hours earlier, the office of the notoriously progressive Mayor Lightfoot was criticized by irate residents for demanding that she receive a 5 percent annual pay raise, despite growing criticism over her handling of violent crime in the city and her inability to address its historically high murder rate.
Lightfoot, who earns an annual salary of $209,915, made the audacious proposal Wednesday in an ordinance that would allow the mayor, city clerk, and city treasurer to get an annual wage raise.
If the wage increase is authorized, the city official’s income will increase to $216,210 on May 22, 2019 if the proposal is accepted.
Officials from both parties have criticized the recent ‘lawlessness’ in the city under Lightfoot, which reached levels not seen in decades during the epidemic and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2020, during the Defund the Police rallies, the leftist infamously lowered the Chicago Police Department’s budget by a huge $59 million; however, in August of 2021, in the face of rising crime and widespread walkouts by the city’s police personnel, he abruptly reversed his position.
Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police supporters participated in disturbances, which exacerbated the unrest. Lightfoot had promoted both of these movements during her campaign.
In 2021, the city saw 797 murders, the most since the mid-1990s and the most in decades. Specifically, crimes involving firearms
Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today, a 700-page statute championed by Lightfoot in January, implemented a variety of criminal justice changes in Illinois, including the elimination of cash bail.
Lightfoot has also slammed the ‘defund the police’ campaign, paradoxically unveiling a plan to’refund the police’
As part of a plan, the federal government allocated $16.7 billion to the troubled police department, increasing its annual budget from $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.
The plan relied heavily on funding from the federal government to help the city recover from a deficit that reached new heights under Lightfoot. It also outlined funding for new community programs that, according to the mayor, will assist the troubled city in overcoming the ongoing pandemic and addressing pervasive problems with gun violence and crime.
After roughly a year, violent crimes are still on the rise in Chicago, especially when compared to before the outbreak – around the time Lightfoot was sworn in as mayor in May 2019.
According to the most recent data from the Chicago Police Department, crime is still on the increase following a spike in 2021 and 2020.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 564 homicides, compared to 428 during the same time period in 2019.
During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, when officials recorded a record 644 killings, that number was eclipsed in 2021, when 676 homicides occurred.
Since the mid-1990s, the number has never been higher.
Since then, homicides have decreased by 17 percent, but theft, robbery, and general crimes have increased significantly from the previous year, which was one of the most violent in the city’s history.
The previous weekend, there were nine homicides and 31 shooting victims reported in the Windy City. In 2022, there have been 2,313 documented shooting occurrences as of this week.
51 individuals were shot in the crime-ridden metropolis over the last weekend. The 43 distinct events resulted in the deaths of 11 victims, nine of whom were children.
A bullet grazed the face of a 14-year-old child on a playground in Chicago’s West Wilcox neighborhood during one of the weekend shootings.
A 16-year-old walker in South Fairfield was shot by two males in a sedan one hour after this occurrence. In the hospital, the adolescent succumbed to his injuries.
In South Albany, an unidentified gunman in a dark vehicle shot a 12-year-old in the chest the same evening. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, according to ABC 7.
While walking in the South Commons area, another 17-year-old guy was shot in the head. It is understood that his health is stable.
Approximately 49,433 additional offenses have been reported in Chicago compared to 35,746 during the same period previous year. Including this past weekend, there have been roughly 545 killings in the Windy City.
Thefts and robberies have also increased significantly over the past year, by 61 percent and 83 percent, respectively.
The number of shootings has decreased by 19 percent, from 2,755 at the same period last year to 2,220 this year.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of crimes committed by armed offenders has substantially grown.
Chicago’s 568 homicides through last Sunday represent a 32 percent increase compared to the 397 homicides through the same point in 2019.
Compared to 2019’s shootings, the rate of gun violence has increased by an alarming 35 percent, a figure that is particularly alarming.
Officials, including Lightfoot, have pledged to combat the crime epidemic, but their efforts have been largely failed despite her recent dramatic shift in enforcement strategy.
Regarding the need to increase the police budget, Lightfoot stated, “Without a doubt.” We have to.
The next generation of police officers must be recruited in a manner that reflects the city’s diversity, she continued.
In the past two years, homeless encampments and open-air drug markets have become typical on the city’s streets, illustrating the city’s failure to recover from the initial spread of the coronavirus.
As the rate of violent crime continues to rise, office workers continue to feel frightened, opting to work from the comfort of their own homes rather than commuting to the office.
This recent trend toward remote labor, coupled with large layoffs, has left small businesses in the region floundering, since they rely on the now-absent workers to generate revenue.
This, combined with high inflation, homelessness, and a dearth of jobs, has driven the city into further upheaval.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinsk delivered a harsh speech in mid-September, criticizing Chicago officials for the city’s present status after relocating its headquarters there earlier in the year.
The CEO snidely remarked at the time, “Drug overdoses are occurring in our restaurants.” Thus, we observe daily in our restaurants what is transpiring in the larger society.
Lightfoot’s controversial declaration that Chicago is a “sanctuary city” has resulted in a recent influx of migrants from border states such as Texas, who are being housed on the taxpayers’ dime in hotels.
Each day, dozens of buses carrying migrants from the Texas border continue to arrive in the city, and more than 4,000 have been accepted as citizens.
Lightfoot, meantime, pledges to confront the rise in violence and discontent.
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