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The city continues to lose its ever-lovin' mind as four people were shot in the Loop Thursday night, one fatally, as roughly a million people left Grant Park following the city's annual lakefront fireworks display. The gunshots sent the crowd of celebrators scattering for cover behind cars. The first shooting happened near Dearborn and Van Buren. Courtney Thomas, 20, was shot in the head around 10:40 p.m. and pronounced dead shortly thereafter at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Moments later, there was another shooting nearby at Clark and Van Buren where a 17-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. He was treated and released. Two more young men were shot close to that scene: one in the butt and one suffering a grazed bullet to the head. Again, both were treated and released. As of this morning, police are holding a suspect whom they believe to be responsible for all three shootings, which were likely gang-related. [Trib, S-T, CBS2]
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i heard they were fighting over courvossier. No I am not joking either.
idiots.
Now see...a clever gangbanger would have done the shooting during the fireworks, so as to bury the sound of the gun firing amidst all the other crackling and banging.
Of course, I just used the phrase "clever gangbanger," so I'm clearly not thinking straight, either.
I had a feeling I'd wake and see something like this in the news. Was anyone around any of the gang fights around Buckingham Fountain after 7:00 pm last night?
It was a total panic there for a while. It's like every gang in the city decided to head down there and cause trouble. One minute you're just standing there and the next second a giant group of people is running from something - has someone pulled a gun? Are dozens of people fighting? I hate being panicked and nervous in situations like that. I don't doubt that there were quite a few people there with guns.
And the cops: NOT ENOUGH POLICE DOWN THERE AT ALL. Seriously, they were anticipating violence; I saw them talking and looking for someone specifically. There were no more than 10 police in the general vicinity just west of the fountain after the first fight, and I saw they had arrested a couple guys after the second one.
There were just way too many people there. I know, I know, it was July 3rd, fireworks, etc. to draw people there, it's free, etc. etc. but it was the first time I'd really felt unsafe and not sure what to do in a long time.
Read second city cop blogspot...there aren't enough cops anywhere and certainly not enough to support a July 4th celebration...perhaps Jody Weis would like to earn his $300K+ salary and give the police a contract, along with boosting the force to cover events AND prevent episodes like this one.
For some reason there's mounted police at critical mass and peaceful protests but not at alcohol fueled mass gatherings.
Glad to see the CPD has their priorities straight.
I hope this makes J-fed or the Mayor or someone stand up an take notice. I mean it's OK if people get shot on the south side or in Logan Square, but this is the Loop! Who will protect the tourism money?
Matty, did you miss the huge piles of horse manure everywhere? Or the puddles of horse piss?
I saw mounted police on every block and intersection leading out of the taste last night. They were blocking traffic and blocking people from running into the street.
No surprise that the Tribune disabled the comments for this story. I am certain that many very nasty comments had been posted prior to the feature being axed.
I was just going to ask (for the billionth time) how come Jackson & Pflager were not out by Buckingham Fountain protesting last night.
It would have also been a great opportunity for the big Dick to rant about guns and crime directly to the source of the problem.
Bring on the Olympics!!!
Pfleger
Ugh. Incidents like this combined with the drama created by individuals visiting from other areas of Illinois (who seem to collectively lose their minds once they hit the Chicago border and act in ways they wouldn't DARE back home) is a huge factor in why I no longer go to the Taste. I remember when it used to be FUN. People actually knew how to say the words "Excuse me" and would watch the fireworks, then everyone would march in a huge mass to Rush Street where a lot of flirting would be had. Good times. Most importantly, people went home ALIVE.
It is one thing when the violence is just read about in the papers or seen on the news but this is crazy. Mayor mumbles needs to hire some more cops last night was out of control. I was by queens landing right at the lakefront and it was like a scene from Warriors bangers fighting we had to leave early. The cops were way outnumbered by thugs the night had a real bad feel about it. I was not surprised to hear people were shot later on the news.
".....For some reason there's mounted police at critical mass and peaceful protests but not at alcohol fueled mass gatherings.
Glad to see the CPD has their priorities straight....."
And I am glad to see that Lefties have their priorities straight. The "critical mass and peaceful protests" comment is priceless. Keep sticking it to "The Man."
Amazing that people see nothing wrong with shooting at each other in the middle of downtown with hundreds of people around and cops everywhere.
There was a shooting during the Detroit fireworks 3 or 4 years ago. It actually happened about 100 feet right in front of me, but I had no idea because it happened DURING the fireworks. The first clue was the thousands of people running and then the torrent of cops running the opposite way. My friend and I decided to stay put because by that point, we were significantly safer at the scene of the crime than anywhere else.
yeah we are getting more and more like detroit everday thanks mayor mumbles.
GOODBYE OLYMPIC BID!!!!
So, yet another person was shot in the loop last night.
"And I am glad to see that Lefties have their priorities straight. The "critical mass and peaceful protests" comment is priceless. Keep sticking it to "The Man." "
The truth hurts, Ward. CPD radically over-responds to events like Critical Mass and peaceful anti-war marches with officers outfitted in riot gear, but under responds to gang activity in the middle of one of the city's largest events. It's not political - it's just true.