Pure Criminality: 13 Cops Hurt During Retaliation Looting - Chicago, IL Patch

mixdes.blogspot.com

CHICAGO, IL — Hundreds of looters smashed windows, looted stores and clashed with police along the Magnificent Mile and other areas of downtown Chicago, injuring 13 officers, police said early Monday. Police said the widespread looting was in retaliation after an officer shot an armed man on Sunday.

More shots were fired around 4:30 a.m. Monday, when someone shot at police from a passing vehicle, according to Chicago Police Department Spokesman Tom Ahern.

Police said the shooting happened on Lake Street near Michigan Avenue as officers attempted to arrest a person who was carrying a cash register. The gunshots prompted officers to return fire. No officers were hurt, Ahern said, but it was unknown if anyone in the shooter's car was hit.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown called the looting "pure criminality," while Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it "had nothing to do with legitimate protected First Amendment (speech)." Instead, authorities said the looting was in retaliation for a shooting carried out by police Sunday afternoon.

Police said around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a report of a person with a gun in the 5700 block of South Racine and attempted to confront a suspect who matched the description of the gunman in an alleyway. The suspect, described by Brown as a 20-year-old man, fled from police on foot before shooting at officers, according to police.

Police said officers fired back, hitting the 20-year-old, who was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital. The man's gun was recovered at the scene, Brown said.

After the shooting, Brown said, a crowd gathered on the city's South Side, and "tempers flared, fueled by misinformation."

Social media posts began encouraging looting in downtown Chicago, prompting Chicago police to deploy 400 officers as "car caravans" full of looters headed into the Loop, according to Brown.

"This was not an organized protest," Brown said, calling the looting "pure criminality" and an "act of violence against our police officers and against our city."

Brown said 13 officers were hurt in the looting, including a sergeant hit by a bottle and an officer whose nose was broken as he struggled with looters. More than 100 people were arrested on charges of battery against police and disorderly conduct.

"What we are seeing is violence against police," Brown said, adding that in the last week, shots were fired at nine different officers.

Lightfoot said residents are "waking up in shock this morning," calling the looting "abject criminal behavior, pure and simple," and saying it undermines the city's recovery from coronavirus-related closings as well as previous looting earlier this summer.

"This was an assault on our city," with businesses and restaurants "representing our city's jobs and livelihoods" hit, she said.

Lightfoot expressed her gratitude to police and called for prosecutors and judges to hold looters accountable. "We can't allow this to continue to happen," the mayor said, addressing looters. "You have no right, no right, to take and destroy the property of others."

Businesses along Michigan Avenue were hit, along with the South Loop and near North Side, according to WGN reporters, who said they saw people filling garbage bags with stolen merchandise and driving vehicles into store windows and grabbing items.

WGN reported "widespread damage."

Stores hit reportedly included Best Buy, the Apple Store, Nordstrom Rack, Sally Beauty Supply, the Louis Vuitton store and Binny's.

"I refuse to allow these cowardly acts to hold our city hostage," Brown said, adding that access to downtown will now be restricted from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and officers will be deployed to protect neighborhoods.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"pure" - Google News
August 10, 2020 at 08:21PM
https://ift.tt/30J8JNB

Pure Criminality: 13 Cops Hurt During Retaliation Looting - Chicago, IL Patch
"pure" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d6cIXO
https://ift.tt/35ryK4M

Bagikan Berita Ini