By Monday evening, at least 63 people had been shot across the city since Friday afternoon, including five who were killed. This surpasses the number of people shot during last year’s Memorial Day weekend, though Chicago Police News Affairs said murders are down 50 percent compared to last Memorial Day.
Among the youngest shooting victims, a 15-year-old girl was fatally shot while riding in a car with a documented gang member on Lake Shore Drive.
First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said the department’s plan for Monday was to increase patrols in designated areas, including along Lake Shore Drive.
“As we’ve said before, it’s about 1,500 people that are driving the violence,” Escalente said. “Those are the people we’re trying to concentrate on.”
Chicago has been pulled into headlines nationwide this weekend as police struggle to curtail the city’s growing reputation for violence. Escalante said he is confident the department can get things under control, but others are skeptical.
“The police cannot stop the killings in the Chicagoland area and it’s not their fault,” community activist Tio Hardiman told NBC 5. “The community needs to organize in high numbers and work with these guys on street corners in an aggressive way.”
As the city wraps up the fifth month of 2016, the Chicago Tribune reports there have already been more than 1,400 shooting victims so far this year.
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Chicago Police were paid $116 Million in overtime last year. Policing strategies don’t work to reduce Chicago’s violence. Please call Julia Stasch of MacArthur Foundation at 312.726.8000 and Terry Mazany of the Chicago Community Trust at 312.616.8000 and ask them to support The Black Star Project’s plan to fund viable, high-functioning Black nonprofits in Chicago to help stop violence in Chicago