Nine people have been killed, including four under the age of 18, and 47 more were injured in shootings across Chicago on Father’s Day weekend, police said.
“There are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot at a toddler,” Lightfoot wrote.
In one incident in the Austin neighborhood, two teenage boys were sitting on a porch when one noticed a laser being pointed at him, according to police. Gunshots then erupted, injuring the two boys, who are in good condition. However, a 13-year-old girl who was inside the home was shot in the neck during the incident and later died.
Officials said that in a separate incident, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old male were killed in an alley in South Chicago’s South Luella Avenue. A male suspect approached the two and opened fire.
The weekend violence came as Chicago aldermen announced a plan last week to remove police officers from city schools amid growing outcry for police reforms.
The proposal ending the city’s $33 million deal with the Chicago Police Department follows similar action in Minneapolis and Seattle. Proponents say police in schools can be intimidating to students and criminalize student behavior in Chicago’s public schools.
Alderman Roderick Sawyer, a sponsor, said historically police were called to schools to protect from outside threats. “Now our students are being criminalized for being students at CPS and that’s not right,” he said at a news conference. “We want to make sure that our children have every opportunity to learn and grow from children to young adults and police officers in schools is not the answer.”
The plan, to be introduced Wednesday for a vote next month, requires the police chief to end the contract within 75 days.
