Chicago experiences its most violent day in 60 YEARS as 18 people are gunned down in 24 hours in unrest sparked after George Floyd's 'murder' by police
Over Memorial Day weekend, 18 people were fatally shot on May 31 in Chicago, making it the most violent 24-hour period the city has experienced over the last 60 years, experts said.
The University of Chicago Crime Lab said that the 18 people killed on May 31, while the city experienced looting and George Floyd protests, was the most violent day in the city since 1961, when the lab started keeping track of the data.
Previously, the record was August 4, 1991, when 13 people were killed in Chicago, the lab said.
John Tiggs, 32, a father of three, was fatally shot on May 31 while inside a Chicago Metro PCS
Tiggs was at the store, trying to pay his cellphone bill, according to family, when shooting began and he was shot in the abdomen
Angelo Bronson, 36 (pictured), a father of two, was standing in the street in Englewood on May 31 when a bullet fired from a passing car hit him in the chest. He was in town visiting family
Student Lazarra Daniels, 18, was found fatally shot in the street at 10.51pm on May 31
'We’ve never seen anything like it, at all,' Max Kapustin, Crime Lab senior research director told the Chicago Sun-Times of the number of fatal shootings on May 31.
Kapustin added that 'I don’t even know how to put it into context. It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before.'
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that 65,000 calls were made to the city's 911 line - for all services, not just shootings.
On a typical day in Chicago, only 15,000 are received by the city's 911 operators.
Overall that weekend, from May 29 at 7pm through May 31 at 11pm, 25 people were killed, while 85 people suffered shooting wounds, according to city data tabulated by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Comparatively, in 2019, there were 492 murders and three fatal police-involved shootings in Chicago.
Anti-gun violence advocate Rev. Michael Pfleger, who leads Chicago's St. Sabina Church, called the weekend following Floyd's death 'open season' in his Auburn Gresham neighborhood, as well as in others on the South and West sides of the city.
A Chicago 7-Eleven store is pictured after it was looted and its windows smashed on May 31
Vandals also broke the windows of a Chase Bank in Downtown Chicago on May 31
Chicago police are seen outside a clothing store that had been looted in Bronzeville on May 31
As with many other cities across the US, Chicago had been in the midst of George Floyd protests which sometimes involved violence, vandalism and looting.
'On Saturday and particularly Sunday, I heard people saying all over, "Hey, there’s no police anywhere, police ain’t doing nothing,"' Pfleger told the newspaper.
Pfleger said that at some point, he 'sat and watched a store looted for over an hour,' without any police responding to the scene. It was the same story when he drove past other places that were getting looted.
Kapustin noted that it's not uncommon for police departments to have to divert resources to manning demonstrations during times of massive upheavals or protests.
'When CPD has to turn its attention elsewhere and there’s suddenly this vacuum that opens up, you also unfortunately see a picture like you saw with [last] weekend where you see an absurd amount of carnage, people getting injured and killed,' Kapustin said.
Pfleger said that issues like joblessness, food insecurity and a lack of housing in minority communities, exacerbated during the coronavirus pandemic, plus Floyd's death at the hands of Minnesota police, brought out 'hopelessness and anger' among those living in blighted neighborhoods.
The May 31 shooting victims also included brothers Darius Jelks, 31 (left), and Maurice Jelks (right), 39. They were at a stoplight, on the way to visit their mother, when they were killed
College student Keishenay Bolden, 18, was killed at about 4.25pm, when she was shot during an argument in the Englewood neighborhood where she had grown up
On May 30, Gregory Lewis, 21 (left), was killed while riding in a car during the early morning hours and Danyal Jones, 30 (right), was fatally shot while standing on a porch at about 2.50am
'It’s like a time bomb out here,' Pfleger said. 'People are on the edge, people are angry, people are poor, and they don’t even know when it’s going to change.'
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement obtained by the newspaper that 'The level of activity experienced over the last week has been unprecedented and the Department is actively investigating multiple incidents across the city and working to determine the motives in these cases.'
It added that it 'is actively working to seek justice for all the residents impacted, especially those who have been killed or injured by these senseless acts of violence.'
Following the 'increased violent and criminal activity' which occurred on May 30, the police department canceled days off for all officers and instituted 12-hour shifts.
The department also directed a 'full force of manpower towards Chicago’s neighborhoods, particularly on the South and West Sides.'
Among the 18 that were fatally shot on May 31 - at different times and places throughout the city - were students, fathers of young children and two brothers.
Angelo Bronson, 36, a father of two young children, was standing in the street in Englewood on May 31 when a bullet fired from a passing car hit him in the chest. He died an hour later.
Bronson had traveled from Washington, DC, where he worked as a solar panel installer, to Chicago to visit relatives in the neighborhood that weekend.
Another victim, John Tiggs, 32, was heading into a South Side Metro PCS to pay his cell phone bill at about 12.30pm when he was killed, his family told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Tiggs, a father of three young children, was shot in the abdomen when shooting inside the store began during widespread looting in the area. A 15-year-old boy was also wounded during the incident.
Two 18-year-old women were also among the May 31 shooting deaths.
Lazarra Daniels, a student at Lawndale's DRW College Prep, was found dead in the street at 10.51pm that night.
Western Illinois University student Keishanay Bolden, who was studying law enforcement and justice, was killed at about 4.25pm, when she was shot during an argument in the Englewood neighborhood where she grew up.
Myqwon Blanchard, 22, was fatally shot outside an Olive Garden restaurant at a mall being looted in North Riverside on May 31
Police released surveillance video of Blanchard being pursued by the shooter and asked anybody who has information about the incident to call the police tip line
Myqwon Blanchard, 22, was fatally shot outside an Olive Garden restaurant at a mall being looted in North Riverside on May 31.
Police released a video of Blanchard being chased by a gunman, who then fires multiple times at him in close range, as he falls to the ground, before getting into a waiting car and driving off, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Brothers Darius Jelks, 31, and Maurice Jelks, 39, were fatally shot at about 1.40pm, while they were driving their mother's home.
Police said they were at a stoplight when a dark-colored SUV approached and someone inside it opened fire, hitting the men in their heads.
The Jelks brothers each had a young son and daughter. Darius worked as a truck driver, while Maurice worked in construction and had finally saved up enough money to buy his first house, their cousin, Dionte Jelks, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Both were fathers — each raising a young boy and girl. Maurice worked construction and had just saved up enough to buy his first house. Darius worked long days as a truck driver to support his family.
Six people were fatally shot on May 30, too.
Among them was Gregory Lewis, 21, an aspiring rap artist, who was killed while riding in a car during the early morning hours.
Danyal Jones, 30, meanwhile, was standing on a front porch at about 2.50am when a man walked up and shot her in the chest.
Anyone with information about Blanchard's shooting or that can identify the suspect seen in the video is asked to call the police tip line at (708) 762-5410.
Chicago experiences its most violent day in 60 YEARS as 18 people are gunned down in 24 hours in unrest sparked after George Floyd's 'murder' by police
![Chicago experiences its most violent day in 60 YEARS as 18 people are gunned down in 24 hours in unrest sparked after George Floyd's 'murder' by police]()
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June 09, 2020
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