Tipsheet

Another Day, Another Crime Outrage in Chicago

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  September 09, 2025 11:59 AM

As leftists stomp their feet over President Trump's threats to deploy national guardsmen into the city of Chicago, the city remains wracked by terrible violence.  With 'Operation Midway Blitz' now underway, as an immigration enforcement matter, the Guard's presence may become necessary to stop another bout of left-wing violence against the men and women of ICE (as we've seen elsewhere, including Los Angeles).  Over Labor Day weekend, eight people were murdered in Chicago, and 58 were shot, within the city limits.  When asked about that appalling (and fairly typical, for that place) bloodbath, the Democratic Governor or Illinois literally shrugged.  "Big cities have crime," the presidential aspirant said in the process of deflecting a specific question, then instantly pivoting to attacking Trump.  That's not an exaggeration.  It's exactly what he did:


This comes on the heels of Chicago's mayor not only opposing crime-related federal intervention in his city, but also opposing immigration enforcement, and refusing to say whether America's murder capital for the last 13 years running would benefit from more local police officers on the street.  He held this rally after the blood-stained long weekend mentioned above.  These Illinois Democrats openly prioritize fighting the president over fighting violent criminals who have been besieging their citizens for years:


No wonder criminals feel emboldened in a place run by these people. The police department is hollowed out and cops are viewed skeptically, at best, by political leaders. The size of the force is way down since before the madness of 2020, and more police calls are going unanswered.  Soft-on-crime politicians and prosecutors let things slide, and too often deal with criminals like they're victims.  And then there are decisions like this from judges:

A 22-year-old man is accused of brutally attacking and robbing a 27-year-old man in River North, but a judge rejected prosecutors’ detention petition and sent him home on an ankle monitor...An accomplice yanked the man’s necklace from his neck. Terry allegedly punched the victim in the face, dragged him toward the entrance of a vacant storefront, and demanded his phone’s passcode. When the victim refused, Terry took his Dior sunglasses and camera and kept punching him in the face and body, prosecutors said. The victim’s head hit the concrete and Terry allegedly pressed him against the wall with his forearm and continued the beating...The victim tried to retrieve his necklace but only got the chain back, not the pendant. Prosecutors said he pleaded for the pendant, which had sentimental value, and even offered the attackers $50 to return his belongings. Instead, prosecutors say, Terry took the $50, punched the victim in the face again, and left.

The victim sought treatment at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center the next day, where he was diagnosed with a concussion, bruising, and a large bump on his forehead. Just two hours after the robbery, Chicago police arrested Terry on an unrelated matter. Officers said he interfered with a street stop near the intersection of State and Oak streets. “I will punch y’all a**es and touch y’all for real,” he allegedly threatened. Terry allegedly resisted arrest, injuring an officer’s knee. He was charged with felony aggravated assault of a peace officer and two counts of felony resisting. Days later, detectives investigating the robbery circulated surveillance photos of the suspects. The officer injured during the Oak Street incident recognized Terry from the footage and investigators subsequently arrested him to face charges. He was wearing the distinctive hoodie with the blue flame design when they took him into custody, according to prosecutors. Despite the state’s request to keep Terry detained, Judge Susana Ortiz ordered him released on electronic monitoring. 

This story ends with a darkly humorous coda: "According to his CPD arrest report, [the suspect] works as a security guard."  This man allegedly violently attacked an innocent person in the process of robbing him, twice.  He then threatened and assaulted a police officer while resisting arrest on a completely separate crime, elsewhere in the city.  Prosecutors decided this was dangerous enough conduct to keep him behind bars pending trial.  Judge Susana Ortiz (a former criminal defense attorney with a biography that leans heavily into identity affinity groups) disagreed and let him go with an ankle monitor. Criminals are thriving in Chicago. If the national guard is sent into Chicago, over the loud objections of state and local Democrats, their authorities will be fairly constrained. One possible role they could have is to protect ICE agents from violent attacks from leftists, a phenomenon that has spiked dramatically. Elected Democrats have smeared these men and women as Nazis and terrorists, and their base has reacted accordingly.

The national guard was brought into Los Angeles several months ago (also over the loud objections of state and local Democrats) in order to protect federal facilities, assets and personnel against violence.  Democrats and their extremist supporters want to hamstring or abolish ICE, to the benefit of criminal illegal immigrants.  They are much angrier over the enforcement of our immigration laws than they are over the violation of them, including by repeat criminals, whom they bizarrely venerate.  On this subject, I think this is an interesting idea:


I'm not sure this should be the plan in lieu of interventions in blue states, but perhaps it could supplement those operations.  This move would have several benefits, including highlighting how lawful cooperation between federal law enforcement and red state governors contrasts with the dead-end resistance theater of Democratic officials.  It would also underscore how absurd Democrats' desperate 'red state crime!' talking point is.  Much of the problematic crime in red states occurs in blue cities that, in many cases, have been run by Democrats for decades.  Let red governors work with the administration to clean up the mess in places run by Team Blue.  Finally, on a related note, I'll leave you with the problem with electing Brandon Johnson's ideological twin (only perhaps even more radical and anti-law enforcement) in New York City:


UPDATE - On and on it goes: 


The details on this one are enraging:

When Chicago police announced on Friday that an 18-year-old man had been charged with the murder of Lyft driver Adriana Arocha-Duque at Christmastime 2023, it marked just the latest chapter in an extraordinary tale of how much harm a small group of violent young men can inflict. So far, three men have been charged in connection with Arocha-Duque’s death. A fourth would be facing charges too, a law enforcement source said, if he had not been shot and killed earlier this year when he tried to rob a concealed carry holder in Humboldt Park. And one of the men previously charged with Arocha-Duque’s murder is also accused of killing another rideshare driver just three weeks before her death...Freeman was charged in June 2024 with murdering another rideshare driver, 29-year-old Uber driver Mohammed Al Hijoj, on December 3, 2023. During hearings for Freeman and Conyears last month, prosecutors identified the fourth member of the robbery crew as 18-year-old Daone Feazell. On June 10 of this year, investigators believe, Feazell hijacked a car and robbed two people before he unwisely tried to rob a concealed carry holder in the 1400 block of North Artesian. The CCL holder drew his weapon and shot Feazell dead.

Both murder victims were people of color, too, incidentally. Perhaps their loved ones will finally get justice. One of the accused killers has already met his fate, as noted in the excerpt, when he targeted someone who had a gun for self defense.  Another one: