After another weekend of fatal gun violence throughout the city, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown warned Monday that child shooting deaths cannot become normalized.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, at least 17 people died and at least 72 others wounded in shootings across the city. 12 of the victims were minors and two of them died from their injuries, according to police.
Brown said the police department will not stop fighting and risking their lives until the violence ends.
"We cannot allow this to be normalized in this city," Brown said. "We cannot get used to hearing about children being gunned down in Chicago every weekend."
As he has previously stated, Brown reiterated Monday that the city must keep violent offenders in jail longer and revamp the electronic monitoring system because "it's clearly not working."
He explained the way to lower violence in Chicago moving forward will require a complex sustained approach utilizing street outreach, violence interruption and community investment from a larger ecosystem.
"The best way to reduce crime is to prevent it from happening in the firstplace," Brown said.
Local
A 7-year-old girl was shot and killed Saturday night in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, police confirmed.
The shooting was reported at 7:02 p.m. in the 100 block of North Latrobe Avenue near West Washington Boulevard. According to police, the female victim was on a sidewalk when a light-colored vehicle pulled up and an unknown number of offenders exited the vehicle. The offenders then produced guns and fired shots in the direction of the victim.
The young victim sustained a gunshot wound to the forehead and was taken to Stroger Hospital where she died.
Chicago police are also investigating a mass shooting in the 6100 block of South Carpenter, where a total of eight people were shot, according to authorities.
One of the victims, a 14-year-old boy, was shot in the back, and was later pronounced dead at Comer Children’s Hospital.
