Chicago police responded to hundreds of people looting stores and causing widespread property damage in the city’s downtown overnight, resulting in at least one exchange of gunfire, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The state of play: Police superintendent David Brown said the event was a coordinated response after an officer shot a suspect on Sunday evening, per CBS Chicago.
- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the incident “brazen and extensive” and not a “protected First Amendment expression.”
- It disrupted transportation around the downtown area — with both buses and CTA trains impacted into the morning hours. The city also took the step of raising bridges across the Chicago River to limit access downtown.
The big picture: While the looting was centered around the city’s Magnificent Mile shopping district, it eventually spread to the neighborhoods of River North, Streeterville, Lincoln Park, the Gold Coast and the South Loop, NBC Chicago reports.
- More than 100 arrests have been made and at least 13 officers were injured.
What they’re saying:
- Brown: “This was not an organized protest. This was pure criminality — violence against police and our city,” Brown said at a press conference Monday morning.
- Lightfoot: “There is no justification for criminal behavior, ever. You have no right, no right, to take and destroy the property of others. Our residents deserve to be safe. Our businesses deserve to understand and enjoy safety and security of their property and in their employees. And our police officers deserve to be able to do their job without having to worry about shots being fired, projectiles being thrown and being maced.”
