Looters descend on downtown Chicago
CHICAGO – Hundreds of looters descended on downtown Chicago early Monday following a police shooting on the city’s South Side, with vandals smashing the windows of dozens of businesses and making off with merchandise, cash machines and anything else they could carry, police said.
When police shot a man after he opened fire on officers Sunday afternoon, the incident apparently prompted a social media post hours later urging looters to converge on the upscale business district, Police Superintendent David Brown told a news conference.
Over the next several hours, police made more than 100 arrests and 13 officers were injured, including one who was struck in the head with a bottle, Brown said.
No officers were wounded by gunfire, but a security guard and a civilian were hospitalized in critical condition after being shot, and five guns were recovered, he said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed with Brown, who called the looting “pure criminality,” with nothing to do with any protest. “This was straight-up felony criminal conduct,” she said. “This was an assault on our city.”
The looting held the national spotlight that has been on Chicago for weeks after a surge in gun violence that resulted in more homicides in July than any month in decades. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the city’s handling of the violence, recently ordered more federal agents to Chicago to take part in what Attorney General William Barr called “classic crime fighting.”
Further ratcheting up tensions in the city was a video that circulated on Facebook hours before the looting that falsely claimed that Chicago police had shot and killed a 15-year-old boy. Posted at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the video shows upset residents confronting officers near the scene where officers shot and wounded an adult suspect who they said had fired at them that day. By Monday morning, it had been watched nearly 100,000 times.
Witnesses to the looting described a scene strikingly similar to unrest that unfolded when protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis devolved into chaos.
At the same news conference, Lightfoot addressed the looters directly, telling them that police had been collecting surveillance video and other evidence to charge and prosecute as many as possible.
“We saw you, and we will come after you,” she warned.
Train and bus service into downtown was temporarily suspended. Bridges over the Chicago River were lifted, restricting travel to and from the downtown area. State police blocked some expressway ramps into downtown.
Brown said the department would maintain a huge presence in the downtown area, telling reporters that all days off were canceled until further notice.