First the good news, such as it is. Chicago suffered the lowest number of shooting deaths in a Memorial Day weekend in more than 15 years.
The one known fatality was the tragic case of 2-year-old Jamonte Shaw, who died after accidentally shooting himself on Sunday at his home in the South Side Pullman neighborhood.
But the dearth of shooting deaths on Chicago’s streets over the long weekend wasn’t evidence of a peaceful, fun-filled kickoff of summer, despite what you may read elsewhere. Not when at least 39 people were shot in at least 23 separate incidents.
Fourteen of those shootings occurred on Monday night or early Tuesday morning when one might have thought most of the festivities of the weekend were already past. Worse, less than three hours past the dawn cutoff for official Memorial Day statistics, a 17-year-boy was shot and killed on the 5000 block of South Throop Street.
This past weekend was filled with multiple out-of-control teen gatherings.
They included a teen takeover on the lakefront in Hyde Park, where an estimated 1,000 young people gathered at one point. In the South Side neighborhood, near the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the sound outside around 10 p.m. on Monday was like that of a war zone. For at least an hour, screaming sirens were everywhere, as was the buzzing of at least one helicopter.
News reports the next morning unsurprisingly disclosed that three teens were shot on East 55th Street, just blocks from the lakefront. Thankfully, none was seriously wounded.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, five Chicago police officers who were part of a force trying to disperse a large crowd of teens on the Near West Side were struck by a car. The alleged driver, Rashad Johnson, 18, of southwest suburban Plainfield, was charged with five counts of attempted murder and unlawful possession of a weapon.
It was simply good fortune that no one died in these incidents.
We repeat: It was remarkably good fortune that no one died in these incidents.
One or more of those cops could have died. One or more of Chicago’s teens could have died. In the latter case, one or more was likely inches away from such a fate. Or saved by skilled emergency room doctors, all too practiced.
This was a fraught weekend that underscored just how far the city has to go to address the mayhem that all too frequently is happening.
We’ve remarked on how the direct involvement of parents and other adults in the community has at times helped in defanging the threat that teen takeovers pose and can serve as one model to address the problem.
But clearly more must be done. Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling rightly have called out parents and guardians for failing to supervise their teen children. After the five police officers were struck by the car, Johnson reiterated his position, saying in a statement, “I continue to call on parents and guardians to know where their children are and to help ensure they are safe and accounted for.”
But let’s be real. We are unlikely to see a meaningful mass response to those exhortations.
The desire of teens to gather, especially when the weather gets warm, is as old as the hills. The difference now versus how older generations remember their younger days is social media. Word spreads fast, and hundreds if not more than 1,000 kids can be mobilized quickly.
Social media, however, also enables adults who are paying attention to monitor those communications and know in advance of these plans.
The question now is how to respond.
It should be clear by now that the steps Johnson has taken to date aren’t sufficient. The summer lies before us and this past weekend should serve as a warning.
None of this is to say that the answers are obvious. Teen takeovers aren’t a problem only in Chicago. They’ve been a challenge for mayors all over the country, from Washington, D.C., to Detroit to suburban Milwaukee to Atlanta and beyond.
Johnson has opposed past efforts led by Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes much of downtown, to give police chief Snelling more tools to disperse teens more proactively. Last summer, Johnson vetoed Hopkins’ proposed ordinance, backed by 27 of 50 aldermen, to allow Snelling to declare curfews for minors with 30 minutes’ notice, a measure we supported. Late last year, Hopkins tried again, with an even better proposal to allow Snelling, in consultation with Johnson’s deputy mayor for public safety, to declare four-hour curfews for minors within specified areas with 12 hours’ notice. Johnson opposed that measure, too.
In its stead, Johnson backed a policy that essentially codified powers police already had to disperse mobs once they’re formed. But that leaves cops in the reactive position we see time and again, including on Monday night, and it’s not working.
Johnson keeps saying the right things about parental responsibility and giving kids healthier ways to blow off steam. He says that kids who commit crimes should be held accountable. But these words aren’t enough.
It’s time to consider policies that can give police a better chance of stopping this chaos before it starts. Additionally, Hopkins says he’s drafting a proposal that would make it a misdemeanor for a parent whose child is unattended after the existing 10 p.m. curfew and is part of an unauthorized mob scene of the sort we’ve witnessed all too frequently. That’s worth considering.
Everything should be on the table right now.
Our prior mayors would not be putting up with this. The current mayor must make clear that the city will have no tolerance for this mayhem going forward.
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