Riots, looting in Chicago after man shot by cops

Hundreds of people descended on downtown Chicago after 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.

Police superintendent David Brown said the Sunday afternoon shooting of a man who opened fire on officers apparently prompted a social media post urging people to form a car caravan and converge on the business and shopping district.

Some 400 additional officers were dispatched to the area after the department spotted the post.

Over several hours, police made over 100 arrests and 13 officers were injured, including one who was struck in the head with a bottle, Brown said yesterday.

Brown dismissed any suggestion that the chaos was part of an organised protest of the shooting, calling it “pure criminality”.

No officers were wounded by gunfire, but a security guard and a civilian were hospitalised in critical condition after being shot, and five guns were recovered, he said.

The mayhem recast the spotlight that was 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 criticised 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”.

Latrell Allen, 20, was charged with attempted murder Monday for allegedly firing on officers, according to Chicago police.

Officers returned fire, wounding the man, who was taken to a hospital for treatment.