Chicago police return fire as looters hit Mag Mile, smashing windows and confronting officers

[mucifer]

Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers, authorities said.

The shots were fired at Michigan Avenue and Lake Street around 4:30 a.m., nearly five hours into the widespread vandalism. Officers were not hit and returned fire, according to the department, which said it was not known if anyone else was hit.

Earlier, an officer was seen slumped against a building by Grand and Wabash avenues as other other cops tended to him. It was unclear what had happened to him. Down the block, police in camouflage gear and shields briefly stood outside at a shop at Rush Street and Grand Avenue.

The looting began shortly after midnight as people darted through broken store windows and doors along Michigan Avenue carrying shopping bags full of merchandise. Cars dropped off more people as the crowd grew. At least one U-Haul van was seen pulling up.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-downtown-looting-20200810-3zwa3b7zzrc5vdyb4qjqywrjvu-story.html

My city feels like it is just falling apart

[snowybirdie]

1. Oh no

I supported Mayor Lightfoot in the beginning, but don't feel she's doing the job. And the new police chief is nowhere to be seen. Hate seeing this happening to my birthplace.

[mucifer]

3. They come out and make a lot of speeches. They can't control the gangs

[Freethinker65]

8. Yep. They have been asking for, and have accepted, Federal help for to combat gangs/organized crime

Extra help from Feds is supposedly already here. I hope they can learn from those arrested how and by who these events are planned and coordinated.

These are not protesters.

[North Shore Chicago]

2. So sick

to be living in these times, the Mag mile is one of the most iconic places to visit as a tourist. Hope they catch these jackasses and prosecute to the full extent of the law!

(((((Chicago)))))

[still_one]

4. Who are these looters? They are not protesting anything

[mucifer]

5. I think it's gangs.

[still_one]

6. They need to be arrested

[John Drake]

7. And do what with them?

Can't put them in jail, they might get the covid.
Then what?

[Freethinker65]

9. Actually Cook County jail after initial outbreak has been dealing pretty well with COVID-19

[still_one]

10. That is not a valid excuse. They can clean up the prisons, and test all the prisoners,

those coming in, and those already there, and separate them from the rest of the prison population

This isn't rocket science

[Polybius]

19. Who cares?

They are extremely violent. Put them in and keep them there.

[superpatriotman]

11. Wildin!

Gotta get mine. I’ll risk prison time to loot a Sally Beauty Supply.

[The Magistrate]

12. Probably Connected To This, Sir

From the above article, after the jump:



The officers, responding to reports of a young with a gun, spotted someone who fit the description near Moran Park in the 5700 block of South Racine Avenue around 2:30 p.m. He ran away and, while being chased by police, turned around and fired at them, authorities said. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center but his condition was not known.

More than an hour after the shooting, police and witnesses said a crowd of about 30 people faced off against officers holding a police line near 56th and Aberdeen streets. Aauthorities said someone fed false information to the angry group, including that police shot and wounded a child.

During a scuffle, one officer was hit with pepper spray and a second officer suffered a minor shoulder injury. Two people were arrested and a police car was shattered by a brick, police added.

A large number of officers cordoned off streets in nearly every direction until the mood of the crowd cooled off.

Assuming courteously the account is true, I would consider the shooting justified, but police are in somewhat the same position nowadays as the boy who cried wolf --- no one has any particular reason to believe them when shots are fired, and many are disposed not to on the basis of past performance. None of this justifies the looting, and there is no reason to believe this was anything but open thievery, with professionals operating under cover of a crowd. It could not have happened without the spark, however, and the spark could not have caught without a lot of fuel being prepared by police lying about provocations for their violence.

[ret5hd]

13. There ya' go. Thanks for a rational analysis.

Violence begets violence. If society says I am unimportant and expendable, then society is unimportant and expendable to me. Fuck 'em.

[superpatriotman]

16. Possibly, Sir

But a “young with a gun” is still a threat to all.

Nothing to do, however with my post about looting as a worthwhile endeavor

[The Magistrate]

17. As I Mentioned, Sir, The Shooting Probably Was Justified

Nothing in my comment endorses looting .

[Freethinker65]

24. Yep. Organized criminals looking for an opportunity. It looked planned and not spontaneous.

Just waiting for the right time.

These were not protesters.

[malaise]

15. Just wait for the truth

This is all orchestrated so the Con can send in the goons

[Polybius]

20. No

They are gangs, they've been identified.

[Alex4Martinez]

23. THANK YOU! I searched for "Chicago" specifically to post what you wrote.

In fact, the first I heard of the shootings yesterday I thought, "this is staged, this is the work of disruptors".

There must be precedent, Nazi Germany of some Latin American nation or Soviet nation?

Anyway, yes, pay a bunch of angry people $$$ and provide them with guns and ammo and say "go do it".

The mayor says there were tons of social media posts telling people to go out looting.

All of which leads to Trump bringing in the federal stormtroopers.

Watch and see, malaise, you and I will be right about this.

--- There needs to be an original post about this.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213879875

[John Drake]

25. The fuck!

Orchestrated by whom?
Have you seen the vids of who's doing the looting?
And just who controls that mob so easily?

That's some weird thinking on your part.

[greenjar_01]

18. North and Clybourne shopping area also hit

Apple Store, Best Buy, Binny's etc.

For those who don't know, this area was just north of the now torn-down Cabrini Green projects back in the day; it's since been converted into a major shopping area, uber-gentrified - sort of an outdoor mall for several blocks from Halstead to the Canal: Apple Store, Design Within Reach, Crate and Barrel, West Elm, that sorta thing. Looters hit the whole stretch last night, a real mess.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

22. Neighborhood people swooped in this morning and helped with cleanup.

Before and After shots on were on TV of the Best Buy parking lot-- amazing how fast they got it cleaned up.

[greenjar_01]

26. Yes, saw that

The looting was horrible, but the lurking background of that area's gentrification is also something to consider.

[kentuck]

21. Fighting fire with a water pistol.

It seems?