I
It's Americans OR Democrats
Guest
Ah, the MIRACLE of northeastern state gun control!!!!
Localrss
31 people shot over weekend, at least 6 killed
Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 5:54 PM
At least one suspect charged
By Michelle Gallardo
CHICAGO (WLS) -- By ABC 7 News' count, there have now been 31 people
shot in Chicago since Friday. Six people have died.
A 12-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those wounded. Authorities
say the boys were shot about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the 5300 block of
West Madison. One of them was hurt critically.
As crews were responding to that shooting, a third person was shot,
just around the corner. And just 40 minutes earlier, three men were
shot, less than a block away.
Sunday afternoon, police superintendent Jody Weis again called for
more common sense gun legislation to combat the problem. Police tried
to put the numbers in context Sunday and also talk a little bit about
the measures they are taking to try and stem the gun violence in
Chicago.
Story continues below
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The victims of the weekend's gun violence range in age from 12 - 65.
Police say they include innocents and gang members alike. Of the more
than 26 injured since midnight Thursday, six have died, including 34-
year-old Marcus Hendricks and 65-year-old Ricardo Sanchez.
"It is very alarming. I just got back from out of town and to hear
that number over a weekend, and summer has not hit yet, so we can just
imagine what the summer is going to look like," said Dr. Sharon
Latiker, private school superintendent.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Jody Weis responded to the
numbers and put them in context compared to the same weekend the
previous two years. They are, in fact, pretty similar.
"In 2007 during the same weekend period there 19 shootings. Four of
them resulted in homicides. In 2006 during the same weekend period in
April there were 21 shooting," said Weis.
To get an even better perspective on the gun violence in Chicago,
we've taken a look at the number of homicides citywide, most of which
are gun related. Put into context, it is true that the number of
murders has declined significantly over the last 10 years, from a
total of 761 in 1997 to 443 in 2007.
However, compared to the nation's two largest cities, Chicago doesn't
fare too well. New York had 496 murders in 2007. Los Angeles had 349.
Both L.A. and New York have significantly larger populations. So,
proportionally speaking, Chicago has a homicide rate 3 times higher
than New York and nearly 70 percent higher than L.A.
"You just have too many guns and too many gangs and too much drugs on
the street," said Weis. "I don't really like to compare different
cities because we can find different ones that will have a greater
murder rate per capita than Chicago has. I think we need to just focus
on Chicago and do whatever we can to take the weapons off the street."
Weis also said that the police department is taking certain steps to
accelerate they usually reserve for the summer months to combat
crimes. Some of those measures include adding more officers onto the
street and redistributing their strength to areas that are
particularly high in gun violence.
Localrss
31 people shot over weekend, at least 6 killed
Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 5:54 PM
At least one suspect charged
By Michelle Gallardo
CHICAGO (WLS) -- By ABC 7 News' count, there have now been 31 people
shot in Chicago since Friday. Six people have died.
A 12-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those wounded. Authorities
say the boys were shot about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the 5300 block of
West Madison. One of them was hurt critically.
As crews were responding to that shooting, a third person was shot,
just around the corner. And just 40 minutes earlier, three men were
shot, less than a block away.
Sunday afternoon, police superintendent Jody Weis again called for
more common sense gun legislation to combat the problem. Police tried
to put the numbers in context Sunday and also talk a little bit about
the measures they are taking to try and stem the gun violence in
Chicago.
Story continues below
Advertisement
The victims of the weekend's gun violence range in age from 12 - 65.
Police say they include innocents and gang members alike. Of the more
than 26 injured since midnight Thursday, six have died, including 34-
year-old Marcus Hendricks and 65-year-old Ricardo Sanchez.
"It is very alarming. I just got back from out of town and to hear
that number over a weekend, and summer has not hit yet, so we can just
imagine what the summer is going to look like," said Dr. Sharon
Latiker, private school superintendent.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Jody Weis responded to the
numbers and put them in context compared to the same weekend the
previous two years. They are, in fact, pretty similar.
"In 2007 during the same weekend period there 19 shootings. Four of
them resulted in homicides. In 2006 during the same weekend period in
April there were 21 shooting," said Weis.
To get an even better perspective on the gun violence in Chicago,
we've taken a look at the number of homicides citywide, most of which
are gun related. Put into context, it is true that the number of
murders has declined significantly over the last 10 years, from a
total of 761 in 1997 to 443 in 2007.
However, compared to the nation's two largest cities, Chicago doesn't
fare too well. New York had 496 murders in 2007. Los Angeles had 349.
Both L.A. and New York have significantly larger populations. So,
proportionally speaking, Chicago has a homicide rate 3 times higher
than New York and nearly 70 percent higher than L.A.
"You just have too many guns and too many gangs and too much drugs on
the street," said Weis. "I don't really like to compare different
cities because we can find different ones that will have a greater
murder rate per capita than Chicago has. I think we need to just focus
on Chicago and do whatever we can to take the weapons off the street."
Weis also said that the police department is taking certain steps to
accelerate they usually reserve for the summer months to combat
crimes. Some of those measures include adding more officers onto the
street and redistributing their strength to areas that are
particularly high in gun violence.