CHICAGO, Ill. — The sun had risen on Monday, Independence Day, and I had been up since 10:00 Sunday morning. There had been more than 60 shootings in Chicago, with the last day of the holiday weekend still to come.
Going from shooting scene to shooting scene across the Windy City was a surreal experience as I had always heard about the horrific crimes growing up in the suburbs 45 minutes outside the city. Even as a child, I regularly watched Fox 32. When I tweeted that I was in Chicago to cover the shootings that were expected, I was caught off guard when people noted that it was sad shootings could be forecasted as easily, if not more easily, than the weather. "Of course, there will be shootings," I thought. "It's what happens on a daily basis here."
My assignment took me all across Chicago: the Loop, the Near West Side, Little Village, Back of the Yards, Garfield Park, near Navy Pier, Chicago Lawn, and Englewood. Some neighborhoods I went to more than once. While others normally seen as "safe" areas haven't felt "safe" for a while.
When I went to the scene of a shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a park was filled with families watching children play soccer only a block away from where a gunman fired around seven rounds, striking a female. One man who went to the scene wanted to talk to the police because he believed the person who just committed this shooting had used the same car that was used when his own son was shot in June.
While gunfire, sporadic and targeted alike, gives the feeling of the wild west, some people have taken to calling Chicago a war zone. I would be hesitant to describe Chicago as such. Not to downplay what is going on; it's just that in war zones, there are more explosions, maimings, and death. I will say the constant sound of fireworks being fired off around crime scenes gave the city a war zone vibe.
Recommended
As if things couldn't get worse for the beleaguered officers in the Chicago Police Department after an officer was shot on duty and taken to the hospital, another officer took her own life the next day. Patricia Swank was 29 years old. ABC 7 Chicago reported there have been more than a dozen suicides within CPD since 2018. A 2017 Justice Department report found that CPD's suicide rate was 60 percent higher than the nationwide average for officers.
Her death came at a time when officers are leaving the CPD at high rates, citing long hours with no days off, leaving little time to see family and decompress, and receiving little support from city officials. All of this is compounded by an emboldened populace that seemingly can get away with almost anything. When police arrested a shooting suspect who fled into an apartment complex near the Douglas neighborhood, a small crowd formed and forced the officers out of the area. All the officers could do was walk away to avoid a more serious confrontation.
While there were busy times, especially at night, there were lulls, at least for shootings where people were shot. Listening to the police scanner, there were plenty of calls of shots fired, but where no one was hit. One man I met had one of his car windows shot out. Other times, people would fire guns from cars while driving through neighborhoods. Considering how many shots are randomly fired, it's a miracle more people aren't hit by bullets.
At the end of my assignment, it was a good feeling to stop going to such sad scenes, but it was bittersweet because I know these situations will continue, day in and day out. One of the shootings that disturbed me the most was a scene of a 10-year-old boy in Englewood who was shot in the leg while in his room. Whoever shot the gun, the bullet entered the room from the boy's window.
