13 people killed in Chicago over Labor Day as homicides climb over 500

[former9thward]

Source: Chicago Tribune

Thirteen people were shot to death in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend as the city logged its 500th homicide of the year.

Thirty-one of the 65 people shot over the long weekend were wounded between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday. Nine of the fatal shootings occurred over that period.

Among those shot was Crystal Myer, who was nine months pregnant and was wounded in the abdomen on the same block where someone had been killed less than 20 hours earlier. No information on the baby was available. A man she was standing near was left in critical condition in the same shooting around 3:30 p.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-violence-labor-day-tuesday-20160906-story.html

[Travis_0004]

1. Since a white cop didnt do the shooting, I doubt we will see amy protest.

[LanternWaste]

2. No doubt, yours is what many of the biased will indeed, focus on.

No doubt, yours is what many of the biased will indeed, focus on.

[christx30]

5. Travis is right.

If 13 people were killed in one weekend by police, there would be riots, there would be massive protests and justice department inquiries.
But since it's just gang activity, just the residents killing each other, we get a big shrug of the shoulders from BLM and other groups. Are they going to block highways and protest the killing of that pregnant woman? Probably not.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. BLM has a specific focus

There are a number of other organizations that have been battling this for a number of years (e.g., Operation PUSH, which is headquartered there, and others). But you knew that, right?

It's easier to parrot RW talking points than to actually think for a moment.

[uncle ray]

30. you never see them criticize a charity for researching a less deadly cancer.

you never see them speak out because some people act to prevent rape, rather than murder. their motives are quite transparent. it's pretty bad when one's opinion on this matter is to the right of Glen Beck, who admits that BLM has a valid grievance with law enforcement.

[Throd]

11. And your bias seems to lean towards dismissive comments.

Focus on, bro.

[Person 2713]

33. Sean Hannity in the house!

Last edited Tue Sep 6, 2016, 11:51 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151201/downtown/chicagoans-actually-do-protest-violence-their-communities-all-time

Raul Montes Jr., 40, organizes a protest against violence every two weeks, everywhere from Little Village to Vittum Park. He said it takes "many, many hours" to organize the events, which include networking with local organizations and persuading people to come out.

"I like to make a difference. That's why I do it. I have a passion for it," said Montes, who works as a substitute teacher.

Montes said the people who are likely to complain about the lack of outrage are usually the ones that "won't [organize] themselves." But he agrees with the critics who believe there should be more protests so long as they're peaceful, saying they are the "right way" to fight against violence.

Martinez Sutton, who grew up at 62nd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, said there are so many protests and neighborhood meetings that it's hard to keep up.

"It's always happening. They fight [gun violence], not only in the streets, but they're trying to get legislation passed. A lot of people think just because you don't see them in the street, they're not doing anything. But that's just not the truth at all," he said.

[Stonepounder]

3. Tell me again how guns don't kill people.

I want to know how many people in Chicago were killed during the same time frame with:
Screwdrivers
Baseball bats
Knives
Automobiles

Funny how you never ever hear of 65 people being killed/wounded in one city in less than 24 hours with one of those.

But, remember, guns don't kill people and closing the Indiana gun show loophole is taking away my rights to own an illegal gun!!

[jonno99]

7. Ok. The murder rate in Chicago is up 72% in 2016. Did per capita gun ownership also increase 72%?

If not, how do you explain the sudden increase?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/04/01/murders-shootings-soar-chicago-through-first-three-months-2016/82507210/

[Midnight Writer]

19. I saw a person on local news cite a crackdown on gangs

He said Chicago arrested and jailed the top leaders of the large gangs, and now the members have splintered into small gangs (some with just a handful of members) who are trying to consolidate control of their small territories.

He said 75% of the murders are gang conflicts in just a few neighborhoods, about 400 city blocks total.

[jonno99]

25. So, is the correct answer: "Gangs kill people..."

[Duckhunter935]

26. Seems so

[ileus]

36. What is the indiana gun show loophole? what does it consist of?

[Stonepounder]

41. Illinois has strict regulations on the sale of guns.

For any gun sale you have to go through a background check and the sale goes through a Federally licensed dealer.

In Indiana, if you buy a gun from a 'private party' there is no background check required and not licenses dealer required. Funny thing is that at a gun show seems like everyone who goes to sell guns is a 'private party', so guns sold at a show don't require background checks. Also, they don't particularly worry about 'straw buyers'. So, folks from Chicago can just head across the Illinois/Indiana border to the closest gun show, buy a couple of thousand dollars of guns and ammo with no background checks (or even having to show ID) and head back to Chicago to sell them. Of course the sale in Illinois is illegal, but since there is no record of the person buying the guns in Indiana, there is no effective to trace the guns that end up on the street.

There was a bit on the news a while back where they sent a 16 year old kid to a gun show with $5000 in cash. Took him less than 30 minutes to spend it. No one checked his ID, even though you are supposed to be 18 or older to buy a gun.

(Note: the first sentence may have minor errors, I am basing it on Ky/Ohio laws which I am more familiar with.)

[hack89]

42. Illinois is actually a little different

there you have to obtain a FOID (Firearm Owner's Identification Card) to own a gun or ammo. Private sales require that both the seller and the buyer have a FOID.

https://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/firearms052104.pdf

[Stonepounder]

43. Thanks for the correction. n/t

[hack89]

44. I think it is a good system.

A periodic background check to maintain your FOID is not an inconvenience and it sidesteps the logistics and hassle of background checks for private sales.

[Buzz Clik]

4. I know that Trump's band of knuckledraggers focus on Chicago.

It's Obama's hometown, many of the killings are "black-on-black", and, to the RW morons, Chicago represents a total failure of liberalism.

However, Chicago is just one violent city in the US. Why did you decide to carry the torch?

[former9thward]

8. I'm from Chicago.

There is very little "liberalism" in Chicago. The Daley machine destroyed or co-opted any independent liberals in Chicago (including Obama who Daley destroyed in 2000 when Obama ran for Congress as an anti-Daley candidate. After that election Obama never again said a negative word about Daley).

Chicago is not "just one violent city in the US". It is the most violent major U.S. city. New York City has three times the population and only half the murders. That is no accident. Chicago has an un-holy alliance between the machine and the street gangs. They are paying the price for this alliance.

[NWCorona]

6. They call it Chiraq for a reason.

Sad stuff

[MyNameGoesHere]

9. I haven't been targeted by a drone, air strike or suicide bomber

. I don't walk the streets with body armor on. Comparing it to Iraq is offensive to the people of Chicago and Iraq. It's bad in some areas and yes it needs solved yesterday. Equating it with a war zone is just ignorance. Fuck Spike Lee while I'm at it.

[NWCorona]

13. "Equating it with a war zone is just ignorance." compare the statistics

You act like it gives me pleasure in saying that parts of Chicago are like a war zone.

It was also called chiraq long before the movie was even a thought.

[Archae]

10. I saw one of the reasons for the murders, in the news.

A black guy was wearing a "Don't Snitch" t-shirt, and blamed cops for all, and I do mean *ALL* the murders.

Meanwhile what is Black Lives Matter doing about the criminals getting guns? Dope dealers shooting at each other and hitting bystanders?
Easy answer: Not a damn thing.

In Milwaukee, a black cop had a gun pointed at him by a black guy with a long police record, and the gun was stolen.
The cop shot the thug.

The neighborhood (near Sherman Park) had riots and black-owned and Sikh-owned businesses burned.

Meanwhile, memorials to the "police martyr" who was shot and killed are still going on.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. BLM has a specific focus

otherwise they would be the NAACP or SPLC other some other "all-purpose" Civil Rights organization.

It boggles the mind that there is an argument to dilute their focus in order to dismiss it.

[christx30]

16. They blocked a runway in England,

talking about Global Warming. They are doing it themselves. If they're branching out to climate change, they might as well also talk about criminal gangs shooting up their neighborhoods, and killing far more innocent people than the police do.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. I don't care what is going on with them in England

Last edited Tue Sep 6, 2016, 02:04 PM - Edit history (1)

There are different issues HERE in the U.S. The U.S. does not equal England and certainly this country is armed to the teeth, along with its police, moreso than a country that barely has the 1/6th the population of the U.S. I DO care what is going on here in the U.S.

[Archae]

17. That "focus" is hardly "specific."

Yes, they do want to end the constant shootings of blacks by cops, many of which are suspicious, at best.

But in their agenda announcement, it included demands for "reparations."

Among other demands that have nothing to do with cops and blacks.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. "Yes, they do want to end the constant shootings of blacks by cops"

And that alone has been one of the biggest issues that seldom gets addressed in this country. It was tried back in the '90s with the "community policing" initiatives under Clinton but many of those went by the wayside to be replaced by providing military surplus equipment to hick town cops so they could mow people down and act like something out of a Call of Duty video game. But cops targeting and killing blacks ARE their primary focus.

The "agenda" that you mention is something compiled by "60 groups aligned with BLM..." I.e., a "coalition". There are many many activist and community groups out there that have overlapping objectives and as has been attempted over and over and over through the various civil rights movements over the past century, groups attempt to come together to increase the numbers pushing for action on common goals.

But I know this is difficult for some folks to handle.

I was always taught to be aware that when you have more than one or two black people together, they were considered a "gang" by the oppressor.

[Igel]

31. Many supporters do a bait and switch.

It's the disproportionality that's at issue, because otherwise we expect 0 black deaths but still hundreds of white deaths.

But then some will go on to cite the total number of black deaths. Not just the total number of unarmed blacks killed by cops, but the total number killed--including those gunning for cops.

The disproportionality is an order of magnitude smaller than the current Chicago death count.

Still, this is dubbed "black on black crime" and since most of those doing the killing are the same race as those killed, it's immediately buried in a misleading statistic--one that's true, but irrelevant.

[BumRushDaShow]

39. "It's the disproportionality that's at issue"

This.

The era of "Stop and Frisk" policies of New York City and here in Philadelphia have enhanced the problem over the past 20 or so years... and with a new generation who have come of age since the last "blowout" in the '90s (after the Rodney King incident), then the creation of BLM should not come as a surprise. I.e., the 20-some year olds of the '90s now have 20-some year old children in the 2010s and those parents are seeing the cycle repeat, like their own parents saw in the '70s.

But the police brutality history of the '60s and '70s, has not suddenly "disappeared". It forms the foundation for today's cries of "enough is enough".

And as a note, you rarely if ever see the term "white on white crime" despite the fact that most "crime" (80+%) is same-race - mainly because of defacto segregation. But use of the term "black on black" is specifically done to marginalize the black community while insulating the white community from any negative perceptions of their reality.

[romanic]

34. Dilute thier focus?

They're already doing that with thier pledge for Palestine.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. There is a difference

between aligning with another group or groups that might share similar agendas and the "focus" of your own group.

It's called "forming 'coalitions'" as a means to coalesce multiple separate movements that share the goal of enacting positive change. I.e., doing this increases the total number of those involved in demanding mutually-desired reform. But you knew that, right?

[saidsimplesimon]

12. Chicago

is a wonderful city. Crime in our major cities is a multi-racial and police issue. I have spent a lot of time in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Washington DC and parts east and west. As a white woman, I can tell you that evil comes in many flavours.

Let me take this opportunity to thank the African American males who protected me as a young woman who drank too much. They did not try to rob, beat or murder me. They rescued me when white male, business companions allowed me to drink excessively and wander off without a cab.

Of course, I no longer engage in risky behaviour.

[LeftinOH]

18. How much do Indiana's gun laws relate to this?

After all, Chicago's eastern city limits are also the Illinois-Indiana state border.

[beevul]

21. Which city in Indiana has the same amount of gun violence as Chicago?

If Indiana isn't having the same gun violence problems or even close, while not having Illinois strict gun control laws, the laws aren't the problem.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Try poor little Gary, IN

http://abc7chicago.com/news/gary-grapples-with-surging-murder-rate-/902787/

They obviously don't have the population of Chicago but they are a hop, skip, and jump away and in trouble.

I remember the same sort of thing happening in Camden, NJ (another former old manufacturing town which is right across the river from here in Philly). Recently, Camden topped the list as "most dangerous city". It has been difficult for these small and medium cities to transition from their origins as "company towns" when "the company" shuts down and little or nothing happens in terms of getting new companies to locate there over the succeeding 30 years.

In the case of Chicago, it seems to be paralleling what happened in L.A. 25+ years ago, with the explosion of gangs and drug trafficking. I wouldn't be surprised if some "commodity" is being pedaled in Chicago in the underground that fueled this intensification - although I think we all know historically, "gangs" have been a near century-long problem in Chicago going back to the Prohibition. In this latter case, the (white) Chicago "gangsters" of the 1920s have been so glamorized and worshiped, thanks to Hollywood, that no one wants to make the connection that regardless of who is doing the shooting, it's usually all about money.

[Duckhunter935]

27. Let's end the war on drugs

[beevul]

28. Gary had 50 in all of 2015.

Chicago is over 500, with a full quarter and change left to go.

Not exactly what I'd call the same or even similar, particularly when bounced off the assertion that guns come from Indiana (note, I am not saying you have asserted this, but others definitely have).

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Gary has a pop. of ~80,000

and Chicago has a pop. of ~2.7 million. Do the math. 50 per 80,000 (~6 per 10,000) for Gary vs 500 per 2,700,000 (or ~2 per 10,000) for Chicago!

[beevul]

32. The presumption of that equation being...

Gary has a pop. of ~80,000 and Chicago has a pop. of ~2.7 million.

The presumption of that equation being that if the population of Gary is artificially increased to that of Chicago, that it will have more.

That's presuming a whole lot of lawlessness on the part of people that don't exist, whom we contrive for statistical reasons, which others are free to do, but I wont. Statistics don't determine the bad choices people make.

Do the math. 50 per 80,000 (~6 per 10,000) for Gary vs 500 per 2,700,000 (or ~2 per 10,000) for Chicago!

That's some incomplete math, to say the least. Chicago still has 3+months to complete a year.

Any way you cut it, Chicago has the bigger problem.

On edit: FYI: The average time from a gun being stolen to being used in a crime is 6 and 1/2 years now. Most crime guns in Illinois come from Illinois 67%, Mississippi is second at 18% and Indiana/Wisconsin are tied for a distant 4th place. Source: Illinois State Police Crime Guns Report, 2015, Per a Chicagoan DUer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172198687#post55

[BumRushDaShow]

35. "if the population of Gary is artificially increased"

It's a standard statistical framing to normalize across disparate populations - the "rate" of something as "x number of people per y number of people".

Every medium to large city, where there is a density of population confined to a small area, is going to have issues. And straw purchasing (which has been a problem here in Philly as well) just intensifies the problem. On occasion, there will be well-publicized no-questions-asked "gun buy-back" events that often yield a good number of contraband weapons. There's an interesting blog article from someone who created a group that helps organize such events along with trying other means to help diffuse the violence.

I expect the Indiana mention may have to do with reports such as this although this could happen from anywhere. But I expect that obtaining such in less populated neighbor states makes it easier to transport to population centers. I remember 20-some years ago hopping a bus to go from Cincinnati to Indianapolis - a 2 hour rural ride through flat open farm land. If an area has less ability to provide monitoring and oversight, then that is often where a "hub" forms to distribute, not unlike here in PA where places like Reading, PA became a "hub" for drug trafficking into Philly.

I think the bottom line, that I mentioned in another post, is that really, nothing has changed over the past century with respect to gangs and violence except the perpetrators of it. And in Chicago's case, the previous, now-worshipped and glorified (thanks to Hollywood) Irish and Italian "gangsters", have been replaced by African-American and Latino ones. ALL committed and will continue to commit atrocities on the people who they organized themselves among and it usually leads back to some nebulous "head" who is in search of more money and power.

[beevul]

45. I don't disagree...

It's a standard statistical framing to normalize across disparate populations - the "rate" of something as "x number of people per y number of people".

I don't disagree, however, rates are often used to confuse, conflate and mislead. Particularly in the gun debate.

On occasion, there will be well-publicized no-questions-asked "gun buy-back" events that often yield a good number of contraband weapons.

Many of those contraband weapons being crime guns, which are for all intents and purposes 'laundered' - "no questions asked", with the giver of that weapon getting paid handsomely for their efforts to boot.

I think the bottom line, that I mentioned in another post, is that really, nothing has changed over the past century with respect to gangs and violence except the perpetrators of it. And in Chicago's case, the previous, now-worshipped and glorified (thanks to Hollywood) Irish and Italian "gangsters", have been replaced by African-American and Latino ones. ALL committed and will continue to commit atrocities on the people who they organized themselves among and it usually leads back to some nebulous "head" who is in search of more money and power.

I don't disagree with you here. Getting the usual suspects to discuss that however, is next to impossible, and getting the usual suspects to focus on them rather than the gun owning populace at large is viewed as heresy.

[Duckhunter935]

24. So the murder rate in Indiana must astounding

I think we should place the blame where it belongs. The criminals that are doing the murdering. I bet a lot of people know who they are and protect them. Amazing when a high profile person is murdered, they find the criminals with the help of tips in hours.

[ileus]

37. Next to zero.

maybe even less than zero...

[Odin2005]

40. I was hearing on NPR that this is probably a gang war.

Authorities arrested a bunch of gang leaders which upset the balance of power among the gangs. They were talking to some people from the West Side saying the wave of killing happened after those gang leaders were arrested.