Video taken in downtown Chicago last night, April 15th, painted a picture of a highly chaotic scene, with gunfire erupting as fights broke out and cars were vandalized in the crime-wracked city.
RawsAlerts, a breaking news-focused Twitter account, said “🚨#BREAKING: Chaotic Scene Unfolds in Downtown Chicago as Teenagers Vandalize Cars and Gunfire Erupts.”
Continuing, the same account then said “There is currently a significant police response taking place in downtown Chicago due to a large group of teenagers causing chaos. They have been smashing car windows, getting into fights, robbing people, and using mace. There have also been reports of multiple gunshots, and three teens have been shot while attempting to break into the Art Institute of Chicago.”
🚨#BREAKING: Chaotic Scene Unfolds in Downtown Chicago as Teenagers Vandalize Cars and Gunfire Erupts
📌#Chicago | #Illinois ⁰
There is currently a significant police response taking place in downtown Chicago due to a large group of teenagers causing chaos. They have been… pic.twitter.com/n7xhBpsTKs— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 16, 2023
Commenting on the video, people said things like “How a single cop is left working in that dumpster fire of a city is astounding. Pray for the men & women in blue” and “This Summer is going to be a nightmare for Chicago…”
That account was corroborated by NBC 5 Chicago’s reporting on Chicago’s nighttime chaos. According to that outlet, Chicago police had to handle two large crowds on Saturday night, one in Millennium Park and another at 31st Street Beach.
The gathering at 31st Street Beach appears to be the one in the RawsAlerts video, as NBC 5 reported that it “came to an end after a teenager was shot” and the video shows the chaos ending in gunfire.
One witness to the violent, chaotic scene said, “It’s heartbreaking, kids fighting, chasing each other, some of them got guns. It’s really heartbreaking when one of them actually gets hurt, and that’s unfortunate, happened last night. It was a lot of cops here, but they were still outnumbered. There were so many teenagers that showed up, and they tried to keep the peace and keep them under control.”
NBC 5 Chicago also quoted a witness as saying, when describing a car that was set alight, “It was a car, they were standing on multiple cars, standing on cars, and one of the cars just kept driving in circles, which I believe that’s the one that caught on fire, they set on fire.”
Continuing, the witness called on the community to step up and start dealing with the situation, saying, “What’s its going to take? The community has to step up, parents have to step up, we can’t keep blaming politicians and waiting on them. It starts with us, its going to take us to save us.”
CPD released a statement on the night’s chaos, saying “Last night, CPD monitored activity happening across the city and officers were in place to quickly respond to active incidents and large gatherings. We will continue to have sufficient resources in place as we work to strengthen safety in every neighborhood.”
Unfortunately, things are likely only going to get worst for Chicago, as Chicagoans just elected another soft-on-crime radical to replace Lori Lightfoot, meaning that the same policies enabling such crime and chaos are likely to continue, if not get worse.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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