Posted on 08/15/2009 9:48:41 AM PDT by marktwain
Families living in one Chicago neighborhood are fed up with seeing violence outside their window every night. Some people in Uptown say their neighborhood is under attack and they don't feel safe.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports that people in parts of Uptown are afraid to walk outside at night. They say the fighting and gunfire starts around 9 p.m., and it's been chaos for the last three nights.
"I saw groups of young men fighting with each other, throwing bottles," said Uptown resident Robert Warden. "They were all over the street."
An eyewitness to the mayhem describes the video that captured the violence. Robert Warden watched this on Wednesday night from his window near the corner of Sheridan and Leland.
"People with kids are trying to get away from it, people in cars are pulling over to try and hide from it. And it's ridiculous," Warden said.
Warden is among the many who saw the video on the Uptown Update website. He and dozens of others see this as evidence of the growing gang activity in a community that is home to both homeless shelters and huge mansions.
"When the weather gets hot, you hear some gunfire," an Uptown resident said.
Police did respond to the fight. About halfway through the video, you see a squad car rolling by. Witnesses say a few minutes later a dozen marked cars converged on the scene, and police confirm that one person was arrested.
At one point on the tape, you can hear someone shouting gang names, but police told CBS 2 that the incident was not described as gang-related in the police report. Police seem to point the finger at the large number of homeless young men who live in the area and are having conflicts.
"The comment was that gangbangers use guns. Well, who's to say that they didn't have a car parked down the street here that had a gun in it?" said Uptown resident Jarred Smith.
For the most part, neighbors say police respond quickly to 911 calls for help, but when they've reached out to their Alderman Helen Shiller, they say they get little response.
"Whenever you call her and try and get any response, if you invite her to a CAPS meeting, if you invite her to a neighborhood meeting, she doesn't show up," Warden said.
Neighbors say they'd like to talk to Ald. Shiller about increasing police patrols in the area. CBS 2 tried to talk to the alderman about the neighbor's concerns. However, she has yet to return our numerous phone calls.
A Chicago Uptown resident captured violence on the streets in this home video.
Home Video:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/uptown.violence.gangs.2.1129237.html
“Something is very wrong with this story.”
Nothing at all unusual abotu the tight grouping, ‘cause the “Homie” was using a gun equipped with the “Home Boy” sights on his ghetto glock.
Google “Home Boy” sights, from Bird Man Supply.
;-)
Yeah, they prevent the idiots turning them in from being able to shoot criminals trying to rob, murder, rape and physically maim them.
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