Free Republic

President Obama’s own US Attorney in Chicago has created a report that demonstrates how terrible the gang murder situation in president’s hometown on his watch. Tanja Babitch of WLS Television in Chicago reports: U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon offered a sobering report on gangs and violent crime in Chicago. He said murders are up 20 percent in the city for the year. It's an alarming trend that affects younger victims over what have previously been petty disagreements. Shootings are now being fueled by trash talk, and social media spats. The problem is aggravated by the city's many gangs that are splintering...

The Windy City is having a very violent year and according to new numbers, Chicago just wrapped up its worst September for homicides since 2002. September was Chicago's deadliest month since 2002, with 60 homicides. Through Sept. 27, homicides and shooting incidents had risen 21 percent from the year-earlier period, Police Department numbers show. Most of the City Council's black aldermen last week called for Emanuel to fire police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, but the mayor said he supports his top cop. So why the increase in violence? Mayor Rahm Emaunel is blaming police hesitation and heavy media scrutiny for criminals...

Officer dies, manhunt for 3 armed suspects in Fox Lake Posted 9:16 AM, September 1, 2015, by WGN Web Desk, Updated at 12:08pm, September 1, 2015 FOX LAKE, Ill. -- A manhunt is underway for three armed suspects after a Fox Lake police officer was fatally shot in the head Tuesday morning, sources tell WGN. At a brief news conference Tuesday, authorities said they were searching for two white men and one black man. A large perimeter has been set up and multiple helicopters and K9s units are searching the area. Police will not confirm the officer has died, only...

**SNIP** The man had been shot in the head. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. He was identified as Hakizimana Scott, of the 800 block of North Laramie Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Hours earlier, a 20-year-old man was slain in the 7800 block of South Lowe Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood about 8:55 p.m., police said. Officers responded to a calls of a person shot and found the 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his chest in the basement of a building, police said....

Three men were killed and at least 13 other people have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday evening. The most recent fatal shooting in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side left one man dead and another wounded early Saturday.

Three men died and at least 15 people, including six teenagers, were wounded in shootings across the city since Saturday afternoon, police said. In the latest fatal shooting, a 27-year-old man died after being shot around 3:15 a.m. Sunday in the Old Town neighborhood downtown, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro. Around the same time, a 24-year-old man died and two other men were in critical condition after being shot at a party around 3:10 a.m. Sunday in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood on the West Side. A 14-year-old boy was in critical condition and a 16-year-old boy was wounded...

Two men were killed and eight people, including two teenage girls, were wounded in shootings throughout Chicago from Friday evening into Saturday, authorities said. A 23-year-old man was fatally shot and a 24-year-old man was wounded in a shooting about 10:05 p.m. Friday in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro. The two men were standing in a courtyard in the 5500 block of West Corcoran Place when someone approached them and fired shots.

The weekend toll from gun violence in Chicago is five dead and at least 40 wounded, and includes a 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot on a sidewalk in Marquette Park.. Demureye Macon was gunned down in the 6600 block of South Talman Avenue around 8:35 p.m. Sunday, according to Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

Two people were killed and and at least 14 other people were wounded in weekend shootings across the city. The most recent fatal shooting happened Sunday afternoon in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.

Shootings left at least three men dead and 11 others wounded Saturday night into Sunday morning, bringing the weekend total for gunshot victims to 5 dead and 17 wounded.

While rioting and racial tension continues in Ferguson, Missouri over the controversial shooting death of Michael Brown there was a ho hum, business as usual, nothing-we-can-do-about-it attitude towards the following headline  in the Chicago Tribune regarding shooting deaths that was probably similar to others across the nation over the week end.   Three people were killed, including a 16-year-old boy, and sixteen others injured in shootings across the city between late Saturday morning and early Sunday morning, police said. The majority of the victims--and most probably the shooters--in Chicago were black; the others Hispanic.  And yet, except for grieving family...

(CNN) -- After an 11-year-old girl was shot and killed by a stray bullet while sitting on a friend's bedroom floor, Chicago officials met Monday to discuss the city's recent surge in gun violence. The girl was just one of 47 shooting victims in Chicago over the weekend, five of which were fatal, according to statistics released by the Chicago Police Department.

Samuel Walker Sr. had been preparing for the funeral of his teenage son, Samuel Walker Jr., who was gunned down last Friday in East Garfield Park. Now his family must decide whether to hold a joint memorial instead. On Thursday, the elder Walker was shot to death in a Humboldt Park gangway — just two days before his 13-year-old son was to be laid to rest. Walker just had his hair cut, and was on his way to get a cigarette, when he came across his killer near Division and Keeler about 9 a.m., those close to him said. Authorities...

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) is supporting statewide "restrictions" on .50 caliber rifles and bans on "assault weapon" and "high capacity" magazines because of the violence in heavily gun-controlled Chicago.

Two weeks after Chicago's rampant gun violence shot back into the national spotlight with a bloody Fourth of July weekend, federal authorities are scheduled to announce Thursday that seven new ATF agents are being deployed to the city to try to help stem the violence. By year end, the move will boost to 52 the number of agents in the Chicago office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which traditionally has worked closely with Chicago police on tracing the flow of guns into the city and tracking guns used in crimes. In a separate action, the...

For 10 minutes, it seemed like the shooting was everywhere in the South Chicago neighborhood. It started when someone shot and wounded a couple, then two people fired at the shooter, then there was a chase and shots exchanged and a man sitting on a porch was hit. Responding officers kept cutting each other off on their radios as they reported other gunfire in the area late Sunday night and early Monday morning. Then the heavy equipment rolled in: A helicopter and SUVs packed with lockers of rifles. SWAT teams in green coveralls patrolled the streets with uniformed officers. It...

CHICAGO (STMW) – One person was killed and at least 35 others were wounded in weekend shootings across the city. The fatal shooting happened Saturday morning in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

At least 27 people have been shot, one of them fatally, in Chicago since Friday. Police said the weekend’s sole fatality, as of Sunday morning, occurred just before 9 a.m. Saturday when a 42-year-old man was fatally shot in the head while riding his bike. The shooting took place in the 3600 block of West Chicago Avenue. Police said the man was taken to Mount Sinai hospital with wounds to the head and right arm and was later pronounced dead. Ten others were shot Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning. Most recently, a 25-year-old man was shot in the back and...

At least four people were killed and 26 wounded in a 16-hour wave of shootings on Chicago's South, West and Southwest sides starting Friday afternoon, according to police. In less than 14 hours starting about 1:20 p.m. Friday, the number of people shot in the city climbed past half the number shot the entire previous weekend, the city's most violent of the year to date.

At least nine people were killed and more than 35 others wounded in shootings around Chicago from Friday afternoon through early Monday morning. Among the wounded were five children who were shot in a drive-by while leaving a park on a warm Easter evening. The weekend's latest fatal shooting occurred at about 1 p.m. Sunday when shots were fired upon a Lincoln Navigator. Police said the driver of an orange Hummer blocked the Navigator head-on at the corner of 28th Street and Sawyer Avenue. Two people with guns then stepped out of the Hummer and fired nearly a dozen bullets...