Is Chicago Covering Up a Gang Shooting at the July 3rd Fireworks?
(Photo: Chicago’s Independence Eve fireworks…now with extra daylight?)
UPDATE 7/8/09: Please see a follow-up to this story here.
On Friday night, when Chicago’s Independence Eve fireworks went off a full half-hour early–for the second time in two years–I had a feeling of foreboding. Last year the reason for jumping the fireworks gun? Guns literally: gang violence, including four shootings–one fatal–after the display, that marred the evening and marked a controversial start for then-new Chicago police commander Jody Weis.
This year, Chicago police brass reported gang activity yet again, in and adjacent to the Taste of Chicago grounds both before and after the show. Trouble is, the blogosphere is reporting a lot more violence–including armies of gangs and potentially another shooting–than can be found in the city’s official version of events.
Is the city suppressing news of gang violence on Independence Eve to protect embattled Chicago police superintendent Jody Weis and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley from embarrassment? I ask that question today on Chicagosphere. I invite you to read the article. In fact, I think you should. But you may not like what you learn about how this city informs its citizens about danger…or, perhaps, doesn’t.
Read on Chicagosphere: Is Chicago Covering Up Independence Eve Gang Shooting?
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On WLS radio this morning during the 9:00 news, they reported 63 shootings over the weekend, 10 deaths, and I forgot how many hospitalized… In Rogers Park this weekend, zero reported shootings and zero deaths from shootings. Then again, I hate to map these sorts of things, but if you do…
Hey Donn! Dodging the charged locational implications of your comment, given a weekend like that, how does the city expect anyone to believe there was no gun violence during the July 3rd fireworks evening?
Another ChicagoNow scribe posted in the comment thread of my post to confirm hearing multiple shots fired on the Taste grounds during the evening of July 3rd, including at 8:30 p.m. (the time of the alleged Buckingham Fountain shooting.)
BREAKING: Eyewitness comment on Chicagosphere strongly suggests a young woman shot at Buckingham Fountain around 8:30 on Independence Eve.
See this Gapers Block Mechanics column post (GB’s political column) for a look at what might happen negatively due to the Taste of Chicago violence issue raised by me on Chicagosphere and by the Second City Cop blog. Author Jacob Lesniewski (whom I’ve worked with before and a fine political thinker) wonders whether the City of Chicago will use the continued controversy over security at the Taste to begin racially profiling attendees in some way as a method of identifying gang members.
Hopefully not. Though judging by video of last week’s event I’ve seen on YouTube (here’s a clip sent to me by a reader), it looks more like this year the gang members announced themselves in no uncertain terms. Readers can judge for themselves.