After at least 77 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, community organizations gathered in the South Shore neighborhood Tuesday to call for peace and urge the neighborhood to help stop violence.
Standing near the scene of one of two Sunday mass shootings in the city — where what appeared to be a bullet hole was visible in the glass front of a nearby store — organizer William Calloway unveiled his plan to curb violence in the community.
“Nobody’s going to come save us,” he said. “It’s going to take everyone that’s standing next to you to save us.”
Calloway said organizations would be offering community mentoring, and he called for mental health resources and peace.
Community activist Will Calloway speaks during a news conference in the 2000 block of East 71st Street in Chicago on June 29, 2021. He denounced gun violence in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
He also urged community members to take to the streets and build relationships over the traditionally violent Fourth of July weekend.
Jahmal Cole, the founder of My Block My Hood My City, who said he is running for Congress, called for government support.
“We need to increase public safety,” he said. “We need high-paying jobs driving wages, we need affordable housing, we need publicly funded mental health services, man.”
Two days before the event, six people were shot while waiting for their orders from a nearby sandwich shop, including a 23-year-old woman who died, according to police. Later that evening, 11 more people were shot in the Marquette Park neighborhood while they were standing outside, and a 37-year-old woman died, police have said.
All told, between Friday afternoon and early Monday morning at least 77 people were shot across the city, and seven of them died, according to Tribune data.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said the two mass shootings initially appeared to be the result of gang conflicts.
Police Superintendent David Brown has said the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions draws more people outdoors, conditions that could create the potential for violence.
A bullet hole is seen in a shop window in the 2000 block of East 71st Street in Chicago on June 29, 2021. A mass shooting took place in the area days earlier. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
He also pointed a finger at a high number of illegally obtained guns on the street. For that he blamed what he described as a lenient criminal justice system for people charged in gun cases, as well as courts not being “fully open” during the pandemic, a criticism echoed by Lightfoot.
In mid-June, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans announced the formation of a committee that would look to find ways to accelerate a full reopening of courthouses, add more in-person court hearings and increase capacity for trials.
But at the same time, Evans’ staff has said that while in-person proceedings have been limited since the pandemic began, the courts “never really closed.”
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