Chicago officials are due to throw their weight behind the creation of a dedicated Department of Gun Violence Prevention, following a holiday weekend in which several people were killed and dozens more wounded in shootings across the city.
Police said that as of Monday morning, eight people had died and 38 had been injured in gun violence since 5pm on Thursday, according to CBS Chicago. Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy, shot multiple times late on Thursday night in the Auburn Gresham neighbourhood, who later died at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Hours earlier, a 32-year-old man had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Chatham.
The most serious single incident came on Friday night. Police said a red sport-utility vehicle pulled alongside a large crowd in the 200 block of West 95th Street, on the Far South Side, where people had gathered to mark Juneteenth, before two people inside opened fire and fled. According to the figures in the source reporting, 14 people aged between 17 and 47 were wounded, most of them making their own way to hospital. A further shooting on Saturday night in North Lawndale left a 19-year-old man and two women, aged 18 and 19, injured during a large gathering; police said officers were already in the area when the shots were fired.
The bloodshed drew a sharp response from Mayor Brandon Johnson. “What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” he wrote on X on Saturday, adding that “violence has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
The weekend also drew the attention of President Donald Trump, who used a Truth Social post on Sunday to challenge the state’s Democratic governor. “Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH,” he wrote, claiming that within a year it could become one of the safest cities in the country. In further posts, the president again raised the prospect of federal intervention. The office of Governor JB Pritzker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The political exchange unfolds against a more nuanced backdrop. While Chicago Police Department figures show a slight increase in shooting incidents compared with the first half of last year, violent crime in the city has generally fallen over recent years, broadly in step with national trends.
It is in that context that city leaders, faith figures and violence-prevention advocates were set to gather at City Hall on Monday morning. The proposed department would focus solely on reducing gun violence and on coordinating prevention programmes across the city, an effort campaigners argue should not depend on who happens to be in office. Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Emmanuel Andre is among those expected to take part.
Advocates have been keen to stress that the work already being done on the streets needs sustained backing. The most recent research from Northwestern University recorded a 41 per cent drop in violence across more than 200 hotspots where so-called Peacekeepers are deployed. “Our day-to-day is being in hot spots where violence more likely occurs,” said Jamon Crawford of the group Peacekeepers. “We are violence interrupters, and we are there to mediate a lot of situations.”
Local elected officials struck a defiant tone. Anthony Beale, the 9th Ward alderman, said in a statement that the community was hurting “but we will not surrender to fear.”
Why it matters is straightforward: withthe summer months ahead, when shootings in the city have historically risen, supporters of the new department see a coordinated, permanent structure as the difference between a sustained strategy and a stop-start one.
