President Donald Trump reaffirmed his threats to send National Guard troops and federal agents to Chicago despite Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s protests, which led to a violent holiday weekend.
According to police, shootings throughout Chicago over Labor Day weekend have left at least five people dead and thirty injured, including a drive-by attack that left seven people hurt late Saturday night.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump warned Illinois Governor JB Pritzker that he “better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” in reference to recent crimes in Chicago.
In a news conference a week ago, Democratic Governor of Illinois Pritzker responded to Trump’s earlier threat to “straighten out Chicago, just like we did D.C.” by calling the president’s plan “unprecedented and unwarranted.” It is unlawful, unconstitutional, and un-American.
In his response last week, Mayor Johnson referred to Trump’s strategy as “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound,” stating that he had “grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to the city of Chicago.”
Johnson added that the National Guard’s presence in Chicago might “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.” The “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” an executive order signed by Mayor Johnson on Saturday, “directs our department of law to pursue any and every legal mechanism to hold this administration accountable for violating the rights of Chicagoans.”
During a news conference, he called the initiative “the most sweeping campaign of any city in the country to protect ourselves from the threats and actions of this out-of-control administration.”
Johnson partially stated, “We have heard reliable reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some sort of militarized activity by the federal government.”
“We must act quickly and forcefully to protect our people from federal overreach because we take these threats seriously.” ABC News reviewed online police incident reports and found that at least 20 shootings took place in Chicago between 10:32 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Sunday.
The incident reports listed the following victims: a 31-year-old man who was shot in the leg after becoming entangled in the crossfire of gunmen shooting at each other from two vehicles; a 25-year-old woman who was shot and hurt while driving down a street; and a 17-year-old girl who was inside her home when a bullet came through a front window and struck her in the arm.
A mass shooting in the Bronzeville neighbourhood of Chicago’s South Side left seven people injured less than five hours after Trump took to social media on Saturday to criticize Pritzker’s response to crime in the city.
“He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!,” Trump said in his post about Pritzker.
According to police, the shooting on South State Street in Bronzeville happened at approximately 11:10 p.m. on Saturday.
A car passed by where a group of people were gathered outside, and at least one of the occupants of the car opened fire on the crowd. According to police, all seven individuals who were shot—two women and five men, ages 28 to 32—were transported to hospitals with non-life-threatening lower extremity injuries. No suspects have been taken into custody.
Two women were found shot at the South Shore apartment complex on East Essex Street at 11:56 p.m. on Friday, the first of five homicides that police say took place over the long holiday weekend.
According to a police incident report, a 25-year-old woman was discovered in the apartment with two gunshot wounds to her stomach and one to her leg.
Authorities say she was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where they declared her dead. The victim’s name wasn’t made public right away.
The second victim, a 23-year-old woman, was in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center after being shot in both legs. Police say no arrests have been made in connection with the East Essex Street homicide, but investigators were interviewing a person of interest. In other news, police say two men were shot at approximately 11 a.m. Saturday in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood, one of whom was killed.
According to a police incident report, the victims were standing outside on North Sawyer Avenue when a dark SUV pulled up to them, and a gunman got out and started shooting.
According to police, a 29-year-old man whose name was not immediately made public was shot several times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was declared dead.
According to police, the second victim, a 32-year-old man, was in stable condition at Mount Sinai after being shot in the right side. The incident has not resulted in any announced arrests.
Gunfire broke out in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood on Saturday as well. According to police, five armed men approached a 43-year-old woman who was standing outside on E. 131st Street at 7:46 p.m. and opened fire, hitting her several times.
According to police, the victim, whose name was not made public right away, was taken to Christ Hospital and declared dead.
In the Altgeld Gardens murder, no arrests have been made public.
According to police, a 46-year-old man whose name was not immediately made public was killed in a triple shooting that took place in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago’s Lower West Side at 1:39 a.m. on Sunday.
According to police, the victims were standing on West 17th Street when the shooter approached them and started shooting.
According to police, the two other victims, a 41-year-old man and a 43-year-old man, were in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital after being shot in the legs.
According to police, a 33-year-old man was killed in the West Inglewood neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side at approximately 2:52 a.m. on Sunday. According to police, the victim got into a fight with a man inside a house, and the man shot him in the head.
Police said the victim, whose name was not immediately made public, was declared dead at the scene. There were no reported arrests.
Following President Donald Trump’s statement last week that he is willing to deploy National Guard troops to American cities in addition to those in the nation’s capital, but that local officials should ask for his assistance, the shooting spree began.
After declaring what he claimed was a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., and placing the city’s police force under federal control on August 11, Trump threatened to make Chicago the next city he would target.
Read here : Federal Judge Rules to Protect Guatemalan Children from Deportation
According to official data released by the city, violent crime in Chicago has significantly decreased in the first half of the year. According to crime statistics, homicides and shootings have decreased by 32% and 37%, respectively, while overall violence crime has decreased by more than 22% since the first half of 2024.
At a press conference last week, Pritzker further reacted to Trump by saying, “Do not come to Chicago, you are neither wanted here nor needed here.” “Donald Trump wants to punish its dissidents and gain political points by using the military to occupy a city in the United States.
We wouldn’t hesitate to label this as a risky power grab if it were occurring in any other nation.
Source: ABC News Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
