Chicago police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Tuesday reiterated the need for residents and police to work cooperatively with each other in an effort to get guns off the streets.
"It's not the community versus the police," McCarthy said. "When we've got 13-year-old kids on the street late at night, whether it's a BB gun, a real gun or a replica firearm, that's a recipe for disaster."
McCarthy's remarks come a day after police shot a 21-year-old and 13-year-old males in two separate incidents.
He also used the opportunity to counter claims from both of the wounded's relatives, who say they were unarmed when they were shot.
Police were investigating a report of shots fired around 11 p.m. on Monday in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood when they came upon 13-year-old Jimmell Cannon. Cannon's family say he was attending a relative's birthday party at a park near his home, when police discovered the boy. When police pursued the boy, who matched the shooter's description in the shooting report, police say Cannon ran from the police with a gun-like object in hand.
Police say Cannon ignored several requests for him to drop his firearm, a BB gun, and pointed it in the direction of the officers. Police then fired several shots at Cannon, striking him multiple times.
His mother and grandmother say Cannon is a good student who keeps out of trouble. He is currently in police custody at Stroger Hospital and is suspected to survive.
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Just three hours earlier, officers were patrolling the 3200 block of West Ohio Street, when Joe Bank Jr. fled from police who tried to stop and interview him. Officers were led in a foot chase, that culminated in Banks getting shot by police. According to police, Banks ignored an order by officers to drop his gun and pointed his gun at them twice.
Banks' father say his son was not armed. Banks Jr. is in fair condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.
As of Tuesday, Chicago police had shot 41 people this year, with all but one having been armed, McCarthy said in the news conference.
