QUIVER- WALK?
Top cop insists weekend shootings downtown and at 31st Street beach shouldn’t keep visitors away
Weekend shootings along the downtown Riverwalk and at 31st Street beach should not discourage summer tourists and everyday Chicagoans from flocking to two of the city’s most enduring attractions, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Monday.
The Riverwalk incident occurred when the attraction is officially closed to the public, Johnson noted.
“They were somewhere where they weren’t supposed to be. But as a result of this, we’re meeting with our business partners in the Riverwalk area just to make sure the security plan is what it should be,” the superintendent told the Sun- Times.
Overall, on a weekend in which temperatures rose into the 90s, six men were killed and at least 37 other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday evening and Monday morning.
But the beach and Riverwalk incidents got the most attention.
At 31st Street Beach, two 16- yearold boys were critically wounded in a shooting about 7 p. m. Sunday.
On the Riverwalk, about 2 a. m. Sunday, two men, ages 28 and 30, were in an argument near Wacker and Dearborn when shots rang out.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel completed the downtown Riverwalk with help from a $ 99 million federal construction loan. If random shootings prompt Chicagoans and tourists to stay away from the Riverwalk, the mayor could have a tough time generating the concession revenue he needs to retire that federal loan.
The city’s Department of Fleet and Facilities Management, which manages the Riverwalk, uses unarmed security guards, patrolling on foot, to enforce an 11 p. m. curfew.
“That’s why we’re gonna meet with the business community down there — to evaluate it and see what they can pitch in because security is everybody’s responsibility,” Johnson said.
“After hours, we’re obviously not going to be there every minute. But we’ll come up with a plan so that, between CPD and business owners, we have it more secure down there.”
Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner David Reynolds could not be reached for comment.
Johnson on Monday blamed both incidents on “petty disputes settled with guns.”
“These were all young folks. One was a dispute about a girl. The other was a dispute about coolers on the beach,” Johnson told the Sun- Times. Those disputes don’t concern the public at large, he added, and police were “close” tomaking arrests.
“The culture of accountability is just delinquent in Chicago.”
Johnson stressed that the Riverwalk shooting occurred “after the public is barred from being over there.” Chicago Police “patrol that area religiously” between 6 p. m. and midnight, then do “random patrols” after midnight, he said.
“Those were not random incidents . . . they were targeted at groups of people that knew each other. . . . These weren’t street robberies or things of that nature.”
The 31st Street shooting occurred in broad daylight on a crowded beach filled with families.
But Johnson nevertheless urged South Siders not to be afraid of taking their children to the beach.
“It’s still between two groups of folks that knew each other. . . . But again, it was a petty dispute that they settled with a gun,” the superintendent said.