Political Analyst Gianno Caldwell Criticizes ‘Soft-on-Crime’ Polices for Parade Mass Shooting

Gianno Caldwell attends the "I Have A Dream" Foundation's 5th Annual Los Angeles' Dreamer Dinner at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, on March 18, 2018. Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Political analyst Gianno Caldwell, whose 18-year-old brother was killed in a shooting in Chicago last month, said the July 4 parade mass shooting is the result of “soft-on-crime” policies.

“The ‘defund the police’ mantra has become like a disease that’s spreading from the inner cities to suburbs everywhere,” Caldwell told the New York Post on July 4.

He added, “The idea of defunding the police and reallocating those funds comes with a mentality that criminals are embracing, which is that the police can’t touch me.”

On Monday, a gunman opened fire from a rooftop on the Independence Day parade in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six and injuring at least 30. A person of interest, 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo III has since been taken into custody.

Highland Park, a wealthy suburban city, is located about 27 miles north of Chicago.

Caldwell’s brother, Christian Beamon, was fatally shot by an unidentified male in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood on June 24. According to Fox, two others were also shot and the shooter fled the scene in a black sedan.

Following his brother’s death, Caldwell took to Twitter to express his feelings.

“Yesterday was the worst day of my existence. I received a call informing me that my teenage baby brother was murdered on the south side of Chicago,” he wrote. “Never could I have imagined my baby brother’s life would be stolen from him. Please keep my family in your prayers.”

Caldwell also told the Post that he feels Chicago is not a safe city anymore.

“People in Chicago now fear doing their daily activities,” he said. “That means going to work, going to school, going to the grocery store. Individuals don’t know if their number is going to be called next and be the person getting shot and murdered.”

Violence broke out across Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend, with at least seven people killed and 29 injured in shootings.

Caldwell said he believes locals in Highland Park “are going to demand changes immediately.”

“This is where millionaires and billionaires in Illinois live. If they can’t feel safe at a parade, the next election is going to be brutal. They’ve got to reverse these soft-on-crime policies,” Caldwell said, before adding that these policies have “enabled” individuals to carry out mass shootings.

Law enforcement escorts a family away from the scene of a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, 2022. Mark Borenstein/Getty Images

Elections

Illinoisans will choose a new governor in the 2022 midterm election, a race between incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, and two-term state Sen. Darren Bailey, a Republican. Both released statements on Twitter following the parade mass shooting.

“I will stand firm with Illinoisans and Americans: we must—and we will—end this plague of gun violence,” Pritzker wrote.

“We need to demand law and order and prosecute criminals. We need more police on our streets to keep our families safe,” Bailey wrote. “We must also better prioritize our budget to invest more in mental health. I have been calling on this for months.”

In April, Bailey took to Twitter to say how he and the current governor see the police differently.

“I will continue to stand up to radical Democrats and their extreme policies to defund the police. As your next Governor, I’ll defend the police and fight for safer communities for every Illinoisan,” Bailey wrote.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a transgender support rally at Federal Building Plaza in Chicago, Illinois, on April 27, 2022. Scott Olson/Getty Images

In the state’s 10th Congressional District, where Highland Park is located, incumbent Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) will face Republican Joe Severino, a philanthropist and a former small business owner.

“My condolences to the family and loved ones; my prayers for the injured and for my community; and my commitment to do everything I can to make our children, our towns, our nation safer. Enough is enough!” Schneider wrote on Twitter.

“Praying for the fallen and injured, plus the brave law enforcement working to apprehend the assailant,” Severino wrote on Twitter.

In June, Severino published an op-ed in North Cook News, criticizing Schneider’s previous remarks on the 2020 Kenosha shooting.

“Here in Illinois, Chicago sadly led America with over 800 murders last year in 2021,” Severino wrote. “We cannot accept the dangers of having anti-cop radicals like Brad Schneider representing the 10th Congressional District any longer.”

“We must respect the police, back the blue, and demand law-and-order,” he concluded.