Chicago crime on the rise as 51 shot, including 8yo girl, over Labor Day weekend

Shootings are continuing to rise in the city of Chicago as over 51 people were shot, 10 fatally, over the Labor Day weekend, including an eight-year-old girl.

Among the weekend fatalities was an eight-year-old girl who was riding in an SUV with her mother and two other adults on Monday when someone in another vehicle opened fire from behind. 

A 22-year-old man was also fatally shot while in his vehicle in Humboldt Park, while a 21-year-old male was killed in Stony Island Park on Chicago’s South Side. 

Other incidents included four people being shot and injured on Sunday while walking on a sidewalk when an SUV pulled up next to them and someone opened fire. Another drive-by shooting left three people hurt only hours before that incident.

Five people wounded from gunshots were below the age of 18.

The city of Chicago has seen a rise in shootings for most of the year, and Labor Day weekend was no different. In 2019, 43 people were shot over the same weekend, with eight of those being fatal. 

Last weekend, 55 people were shot in the city, 10 fatally.

Republicans have pointed to Chicago’s strict laws on legal gun ownership as the primary driving force behind the mass shootings, but Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot has dismissed this notion and instead blames the influx of illegal guns into her city from states that have more liberal regulations on gun ownership. Police announced on Tuesday they confiscated 201 illegally-owned firearms over the holiday weekend. 

Lightfoot has said the majority of shootings can be linked to gang violence, and that the strain of the coronavirus pandemic on the city has emboldened criminals. She has described the growing violence in Chicago as communities “crying out” due to a lack of opportunities. 

“Violence is a symptom. A symptom of communities that are crying out,” she said, adding that the potential of “college or a career” could “end the pipeline” that leads to shootings.

President Donald Trump referred to the city as a “war zone” and “worse than Afghanistan” in July in response to dozens of shootings in a weekend. 

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