The guardian of a 15-year-old boy shot in Streeterville on Friday informed the Chicago Solar-Instances the teenager is recovering and “is okay” however needs town would do extra to manage teams of youngsters or teenagers who’ve been converging on downtown.
The lady, who lives with the teenager in Englewood, mentioned she agrees with those that have been calling for an earlier curfew for minors downtown. That features a Streeterville neighborhood group that mentioned Monday Mayor Brandon Johnson must get critical about stopping “teen takeovers” that see giant teams of unaccompanied minors gathering downtown and in some instances partaking in violence.
The lady, who requested to not be named, mentioned she has taken care of the teenager since his mom was killed in gun violence 4 years in the past. The boy had gone downtown to see a film Friday, and he or she mentioned she was unaware of any “takeover” plans.
“I don’t assume he must be downtown, interval,” she informed the Solar-Instances. “I don’t assume a bunch of children must be working round downtown.”
Police had been already on the scene of the big gathering when gunfire rang out about 9:40 p.m. close to North Water Road and Cityfront Plaza Drive, in keeping with a police report.
Officers mentioned the gunfire was adopted by dozens of teenagers working from the realm. Video posted on social media exhibits upward of 100 folks working from the scene.
The 15-year-old was grazed by a bullet on his leg, and officers discovered him on a sidewalk close to Columbus Road, police mentioned. Nobody has been arrested in connection to the capturing.
Streeterville neighbors ship letter to Mayor Johnson
Additionally Monday, the Streeterville Group of Lively Residents despatched a strongly worded letter to Johnson after the capturing Friday, which comes two weeks after a tourist was shot near the AMC River East 21 movie theater.
“Whereas we respect the correct to collect, nobody has the correct to take over our streets and sidewalks in a way that terrorizes residents, companies, and guests,” the letter acknowledged.
The group needs Johnson to provide cops “the mandatory authority to intervene earlier than violence happens and with vital assets for crowd management, similar to canines and mounted police.”
The group additionally needs the mayor to interact college and union leaders “to handle the foundation causes of this problem” and to implement “preventive measures” to discourage future takeovers.
“These takeovers will persist all through the spring and summer time except decisive motion is taken,” the group wrote.
Johnson, although, continues to oppose a proposal from 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins that might institute an 8 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors that might apply solely to downtown — two hours sooner than different areas within the metropolis.
“What I’m calling for is to do what works,” the mayor informed NBC5 over the weekend.
“Shifting the issue into different communities — that’s not how we rework our metropolis.”
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (twenty ninth) — a former Chicago ]olice sergeant now chairing the Metropolis Council’s Police Committee — additionally doesn’t assist a separate curfew for downtown.
“The very last thing I need to see is a curfew that’s designated to segregate people from coming to any space of town. … It simply jogs my memory of a time once we used legal guidelines and guidelines to segregate our people, our folks throughout the USA,” Taliaferro mentioned.
Taliaferro mentioned there “must be room for a compromise” between Hopkins and Johnson.
“That is the third administration the place we’ve had these sort of issues. However nobody has truly sat down on the desk for 3 administrations and mentioned, ‘It is a compromise for the way we consider these points will be finest dealt with.’”
As a substitute of the separate downtown curfew, Taliaferro mentioned the citywide curfew of 10 p.m. must be rigidly enforced with dad and mom of unaccompanied minors held liable.
Evens so, he questioned whether or not undermanned police may implement a strict curfew.
Hopkins plans to drive curfew vote
Regardless of the opposition, Hopkins mentioned he plans to make use of a parliamentary maneuver on the April 16 Metropolis Council assembly to drive a vote on the 8 p.m. downtown curfew.
He wants two-thirds of members — 34 votes — to carry the proposal to the Metropolis Council ground for a remaining vote.
“I’d hope they’d assist me in doing this for my neighborhood that’s uniquely affected by teen takeovers,” he mentioned. “That’s to not say that an 8 o’clock curfew couldn’t be utilized elsewhere. However the issue is going on downtown.
“Present me some other neighborhood that had 300 teenagers take over the streets for 4 hours final weekend. … The answer must be utilized the place the issue exists.”
He mentioned he was with police after they began implementing the ten p.m. curfew Friday and noticed a half-dozen minors taken into custody.
“That had an instantaneous influence on the remaining crowd. That’s after they began to disperse.,” Hopkins mentioned.
He added that whereas there are additionally “longer-term options” that should be mentioned, “Curfew enforcement works.”
On Monday, a 15-year-old boy was charged in reference to the capturing of the vacationer close to the AMC River East 21 in Streeterville.
The teenager was accused of firing the gun that wounded a 46-year-old girl from Connecticut who was strolling along with her 11-year-old son March 9 within the 300 block of East Illinois Road, police mentioned. He was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.
