A 14-year-old boy was killed and eight other teenagers were wounded in separate shootings late on a bustling Friday night that saw thousands of people gather in the Loop to kick off the holiday season.
The chaos that unfolded during the so-called teen takeover “set us back as a city, and it evokes fear,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said of the attacks that happened steps away from many of the city’s most iconic tourist destinations, shortly after the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Millennium Park.
A mass shooting happened just outside the Chicago Theatre, and the homicide occurred near Federal Plaza.
“The holiday season is a time when we come together as a city. It’s when we spend time with our family and our loved ones,” Johnson said as detectives investigated Saturday morning. “This is the opposite type of behavior that anybody wants to see. We have too many guns and too many young people who don’t value their own lives or the lives of others.”
Seven teens were wounded in the first of two shootings, which happened near the theater about 9:50 p.m. in the 100 block of North State. Officers on patrol “observed a large group on the sidewalk” and heard gunshots that sent people scattering, according to a statement from the Chicago Police Department.
Three boys ranging in age from 14 to 17 suffered graze wounds. Two more, ages 14 and 16, suffered leg wounds, and a 14-year-old girl was shot in the hip. Chicago Fire Department paramedics took them to hospitals where they were later listed in good condition, police said.
The seventh victim, a 13-year-old girl, was shot in the leg and taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in fair condition.
Less than an hour later and five blocks away, officers found two people shot in the 100 block of South Dearborn, about 10:40 p.m.
One of them, a 14-year-old boy, died with multiple gunshot wounds at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to police, who initially reported he was older. His name was not released.
The other victim, 18, was taken to Northwestern in serious condition with a leg wound, and he was “unable to provide further details of the incident,” police said.
Five weapons were recovered and 18 arrests were made throughout the downtown disorder, Johnson said, but those in custody weren’t considered suspects in the shootings.
ABC7 staffers reported hearing gunfire outside their State Street studios. Videos posted to social media showed officers tending to people on the ground near State and Lake streets, as well as outside the Walgreens on Randolph.
Police evidence technicians later searched for shell casings under the bright lights of the Chicago Theatre marquee.
“When we have a setback like this, it just reminds us of the long road that we have to build a city that we all want to live in,” Johnson said. “We will continue to pray for the victims and their families. We will continue to pray for our city.”
‘Teen takeover’ prep wasn’t enough
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said in a social media post that hundreds of juveniles had been “rioting” in the Loop. He also said officers were “attacked and injured with mace and stun guns.” No officers were hospitalized, officials said.
Word of a “teen takeover” had circulated on social media earlier in the week ahead of the tree-lighting that drew an estimated 20,000 attendees. Officials at Chicago Public Schools had sent messages to families urging teens to stay away from the spectacle without supervision.
The city deployed 700 additional police officers for the festivities along with community violence intervention workers, “but clearly what we put in place did not do enough to prevent what we were concerned about from actually manifesting,” Johnson said.
Additional police resources were being deployed for Saturday evening’s Mag Mile Lights Festival.
“We will continue to make the necessary adjustments as we move along to ensure that these large, peaceful, citywide events can take place without the terror and the harm of gun violence,” the mayor added.
Chicago officials have wrangled for years over how to deal with the problems that often come with large groups of unsupervised young people gathering in the Loop. Some, including Hopkins, have pushed to authorize police to declare curfews with 30 minutes’ notice in order to tamp down chaotic scenes.
Allies of Johnson, who vetoed a snap curfew measure that passed the City Council over the summer, instead have pushed to create more jobs and recreational opportunities as outlets for young people on the South and West sides of the city, where resources are scant.
“I’m the first person to recognize that we have more work to do in this city to provide safe spaces for our young people. But these types of violent gatherings can never be an alternative, nor can they be normalized,” Johnson said. “We need to deter them from attending large, unsanctioned after-gatherings, where weapons are likely to be present. There’s always more we as adults can do to make sure that we know where our kids are and what they are doing.”