More than 70 Chicago-area people were behind bars Sunday facing felony charges for ringing in the New Year with celebratory gunfire.
Dozens appeared on closed-circuit TV in Bond Court before Cook County Criminal Court Judge Maura Slattery-Boyle, who ordered them held in lieu of bail. Many were charged with weapons offenses ranging from reckless discharge of a weapon to unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
They face sentences ranging from probation to jail if convicted, prosecutors said.
Chicago police officials said that from 8 p.m. to just after midnight Saturday, the police confiscated 22 weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and a Mac-10 machine pistol with a 30-round clip and laser sight, said Monique Bond, a Chicago police spokeswoman.
There were 452 reports of shots being fired in the city between midnight and 6 a.m. Sunday. That was down from the same period last year, when 662 incidents were reported, Bond said.
She said Supt. Philip Cline focused manpower on trying to curb the gunfire because of its potential for deadly consequences. The use of surveillance cameras in high-crime areas helped to hold down the gunfire, she said.
Leading up to the holiday, Cline tried to let people know that firing weapons would not be tolerated, Bond said.
About 70 police officers, including Cline and several department heads, were on the streets responding to gunfire after midnight, Bond said. Cline confiscated a shotgun from a suspect, she said.
Bond said there did not appear to be any fatalities related to the gunfire this year. But a 52-year-old Chicago man was shot in his home in the 8000 block of South Ingleside Avenue, police said. A bullet went through a window at 12:05 a.m. and grazed his right arm, police said.
