A gang-related shooting at a neighborhood basketball court in Chicago left up to 13 people injured, including a 3-year old child. A witness said that dreadlocked men fired from a gray sedan. “They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do,” said one witness. Police said the shootings appeared to be gang-related.
“Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago and betray all that we stand for,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He promised that those responsible would be prosecuted.
Three weeks ago an outbreak of violence during the Labor Day weekend left eight people dead and 20 injured.
The Chicago police department responded by paying overtime to add patrols to some neighborhoods, including the Back of the Yards, where Thursday’s shooting took place.
Chicago has passed New York as the “murder capital of America,” even though it has only about one-third of the population. The number of murders in the “windy city” was up to 500 murders in 2012, up from 431 in 2011. New York, on the other hand, declined in murders from 515 in 2011 to 419 in 2012.
Violent crime in America rose by 0.7 percent across America in 2012, said the FBI.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Genesis 6:11