A Chicago alderman is blasting the city’s gang culture, saying gangbangers shot a newly-arrived migrant in his ward after they demanded to know the man’s gang affiliation.
“These are not ‘misguided youth’ or people who need our sympathy,” Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) wrote in a statement. “They are criminals who choose a lifestyle that’s rooted in evil.”
“We must confront these terrorists for what they are, not what we wish them to be.”
On Sunday morning, a 26-year-old man was shot in Lopez’s ward. Chicago police said the man was outside in the 4800 block of South Hoyne when a white car stopped near him at 8:38 a.m. Someone in the car shot at the man, striking him in the leg, according to a CPD statement.
Lopez said someone asked the victim in English about his gang affiliation.
“He was unable to answer because he only spoke Spanish,” Lopez wrote. “Immediately after, at least two shots were fired. Neighbors saved his life by driving him to the hospital and flagging an ambulance on the way, allowing him to receive immediate medical care.”
“These criminals have indoctrinated themselves into a lifestyle with little regard for life and have accepted a creed of destroying and terrorizing communities,” the alderman’s statement continued. “These individuals are heartless and cruel, with no regard for their neighbors, the families they grew up with, or the communities they live in.”
He identified two more shootings in the neighborhood as gang-related, too.
Late Monday afternoon, a man was fatally shot on the sidewalk in the 4700 block of South Western Avenue. Police said a vehicle pulled up, and someone inside the car opened fire on him.
“Four individuals in a black sedan drove up to two men and asked their gang affiliation,” Lopez explained in his letter. “Immediately after, at least six rounds were fired.”
The alderman claimed that a double-shooting in the 4400 block of South Wood that left one man dead around 7:20 a.m. on the Fourth of July was also gang-related.
He called gang shooters “monsters committed to destroying the lives of families and ripping apart any peace in the community… emboldened to boast about their killing spree on social media.”
“And for as much as we’d like them to change and see the value in our communities, they won’t.”
“I am urging the community to once again help me identify where these terrorists live and whoever is enabling them,” Lopez said. He pointed to successful efforts the ward has taken in the past to confront the gangs: securing or demolishing trap houses, holding problem businesses liable, and pushing the courts to mete out stricter punishments.
“I’m not only asking for residents to step up. I’m also asking for our churches, park districts, schools, and businesses to step up as well. We must confront these terrorists for what they are, not what we wish them to be. We cannot continue to give them an inch of compassion if they are committed to the gang culture they learned from their family or friends. It must end distinctly and completely. Anyone unwilling to break the cycle of gang violence must be dealt with swiftly and specifically by the police and the courts.”
“No more excuses, no more latitude,” the letter concluded.