Tribune Homicide Reporter Speaks About Chicago's Violent Year
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Aug 14, 2012 10:20PM
Tribune homicide reporter Peter Nickeas spoke to Gawker about what it's like covering Chicago violence and why the city's epidemic isn't getting the national attention it deserves, especially compared to the recent mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin.
"I don't see any other reporters, most nights, at the crime scenes I visit," Nickeas told Gawker. "I don't see anyone else standing next to crying family members or cops who are desensitized to it because it happens every shift, like clock work, across the city. Someone has to put these shootings into context, and make people realize that the nightly stories are more than box scores, even if we can't get out to a crime scene to illustrate it that night."
So why is Chicago's violence just "box scores" while other shootings instigate mass hysteria? Gawker notes the 11 killed over Memorial Day weekend, and over Independence Day, five were killed and 21 wounded in gun violence. Gawker compares it to "the difference between a home being flooded and a home suffering a steady leak in the ceiling." Nickeas tells Gawker:
I think people here are numb to it. There are parts of the city where it's normal to hear gunfire. I've heard gunfire standing next to crime scenes and waited for someone in the neighborhood to call it in, only to hear silence on my portable scanner. I've listened to the scanner and heard cops calling in gunfire while they're guarding a crime scene from earlier in the night, only to hear the dispatchers keep saying "no tickets yet," (which means nobody's called 911 to report shots fired calls).
On whether Obama should be addressing his hometown's violence problem, Nickeas isn't sure. "I would note that if he visited after every weekend where 30+ people were shot, he'd be here every summer weekend, it seems," said Nickeas. Obama did try to address the violence on Chicago's streets in a video address to be broadcast at the Bud Billiken Parade last weekend, but the video wasn't shown due to some shoddy planning.