We’ve seen weekend after weekend of violence in Chicago. But have no fear! Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has nailed the root cause.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “You can talk about the weather, but the weather didn’t pull the trigger. You can talk about jobs, and they count, but in parts of the city where there aren’t jobs, people did not pull the trigger.” https://t.co/O7smQpUa48 pic.twitter.com/IZvHFdu2dC
— ABC News (@ABC) August 6, 2018
People did not pull the trigger. Remember that.
It’s sad that this is par for the course in Chicago. Besides Emanuel’s incompetence, wanna know why this keeps happening? Because they can’t catch the freaking suspects.
Three weeks ago, 75 people were shot and 12 died. Want to know how many suspects they’ve arrested?
One. That’s it. One. Rick Franklin, 27, is the only suspect who has been arrested and charged
But nearly three weeks later, Franklin remains the only alleged shooter charged in connection with the carnage from a weekend during which 75 people were shot, a dozen of those fatally. So far, department officials have reported progress on about five shootings that weekend — ranging from Franklin’s arrest to investigative alerts issued for people they want to interview.
Scores of other victims or their family members still await justice. The damage done by Chicago police’s failure to solve the cases ripples beyond those left bandaged, recovering in hospitals or grieving lost loved ones. Residents and crime experts alike say that consistently failing to hold those who commit violence accountable casts a shadow on the entire city.
The department’s record for solving homicides — known as the clearance rate — that occurred in the same year was about 17 percent in 2017, and the rate remains about that low so far in 2018. Shooting clearance rates have been even more dismal in the past, according to a study that found just 5 percent of shootings in 2016 were cleared.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also said that people in the city need to step up their game to help identify the shooters, which is perplexing because I thought people didn’t pull the trigger?
Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Mayor Rahm Emanuel suggested in remarks the Monday after the violence that Chicagoans need to step up to report who the shooters are. But other factors, including the failure of victims’ cooperation, disillusionment with police after years of controversy and the challenges of entrenched gang warfare may be just as much to blame, experts say.
Good luck, Chicago.
h/t Chicago Tribune