Lake County Gazette

In the wake of yet another bloody weekend when 45 people were shot, 10 of them fatally, veteran state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) is pointing fingers at all the destruction.

“Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Chicago Mayor’s Office have failed to prevent violent criminals from endangering Chicago residents and destroying their property,” McSweeney said. “This is unacceptable. We need to crack down on violent criminals.”

With murders now up across the city by 50% compared to last year, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown recently said CPD will be adding another 200 officers to the "Community Safety Team." The plan calls for the officers to be dispatched to so-called “hot spots” across the area.

All of the weekend’s homicide victims were males between the ages of 17 and 47, with the latest being a 17-year-old boy who was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital early Monday after suffering a gunshot wound to the back in the 6400 block of North Hamilton Avenue. Not long before that and also on the North Side, two men were shot, one of them fatally, while sitting in a car in the 3400 block of West Carmen Avenue. 

“It’s time that we stop the violence and destruction in Chicago,” McSweeney added. “We need to get tough on violent criminals to restore order in our communities.”

On Saturday, 44-year-old Darrell Rushing was fatally struck in West Englewood in an early evening shooting that left four people injured. According to authorities, the group was standing in the 6900 block of South Claremont when a gunman opened fire. Rushing, who was hit multiple times, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead. 

Late Friday night, a 27-year-old man was gunned down in Austin on the West Side when witnesses told police a man walked up to his parked vehicle and opened fire in the 5700 block of West Midway Park.

“I won’t sit back while violent criminals put Illinois lives in danger,” McSweeney added. “We need immediate additional law enforcement assistance from the federal government to stop destruction of our communities.”