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Question of the day

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Illinois

On July 4, 2022, a mass shooting occurred during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, United States. The shooting occurred at 10:14 a.m. CDT (UTC−05:00), roughly 15 minutes after the parade had started. Seven people were killed, and 48 others were wounded by bullets or shrapnel.

* Two days later, the FBI issued this announcement…

• A Family Assistance Center (FAC) will open today, Wednesday, July 6, beginning at noon. Support services and crisis assistance will be offered, including counseling and mental health services, spiritual care, and financial assistance, if needed.
• FAC services are available to those directly impacted by the events at the Highland Park 4th of July Parade. Victims are not just those who are physically injured, but also those were present and may be experiencing emotional distress. […]

Who and what will be the services offered?

• Crisis counseling
• Trauma-informed therapists
• Spiritual care
• Red Cross disaster mental health assistance
• IL Attorney General’s Office will provide information on accessing IL Crime Victim Compensation Program benefits
• Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office will provide county-level victims services and basic updates on the criminal case
• FBI Victim Services
• Therapy dogs
• Childcare for those visiting the FAC

Who should be accessing which resources?

The FBI’s Victim Services resources are available for:

• Members of the public present at and injured at Monday’s parade
• Next of kin of deceased victims
• Members of the public present at Monday’s parade and experiencing emotional distress

Local community resources are being provided for any member of the public affected by Monday’s events, whether present at the parade or not.

* The reason I bring this up is that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said today that he has asked the federal government for resources to help deal with the aftermath of mass shootings in his city. As you know by now, more than 100 people were wounded in Chicago during the long Independence Day weekend and 19 people died. The city experienced four mass shootings during that period, according to the Sun-Times…

“Remember the mass shooting that happened in Highland Park and all of the services that they got? That’s what we’re asking for. That’s all,” the mayor said.

“What other suburban places get around the country when mass shootings happen like that, we’re just simply saying that Chicago deserves that as well.”

* The Question: Do you agree with the mayor on this specific topic? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

online polls

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:24 pm

Comments

Unlike Highland Park, Chicago gets Fed and State anti violent money and services every budget year. How about staying in town over an expected bloody holiday weekend.?? How about taking responsibility for the bad actors you seem to care more about. ??

Comment by NotRich Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:34 pm
Whataboutism is really the only thing this Mayor is about. No.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:35 pm
No. They get much state and federal monies and knew this long weekend in July would be bad (and may have been no worse than expected). If you know a tragedy is likely, unlike what happened in Highland Park, then use your current resources to circumvent the tragedy. This mayor is the antithesis of proactive.

Comment by Lurker Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:40 pm
The Fed should help with those resources so long as Chicago/Cook County implement a ‘no bail’ on any weapons charge. Chicago should also be federally mandated to fill the 13-15% of vacant sworn officer positions within 365 days.

Comment by x-nuke_worker Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:48 pm
I think it’s fair to raise the question about inequities of service. What I would really like him to focus on are solutions to the problems facing all of Chicago in re: gun violence prevention. “Violence interruptors” are not the solution, by the way.

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:54 pm
The mayor wants to be like Highland Park?
Maybe if he would quit making excuses for criminal behavior and let the cops chase and arrest the criminals like they do in the suburbs, we’d be more like Highland Park.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:55 pm
Whataboutism is actually a perfectly good test of good faith, equal protection, etc. and is actually part of our civil rights law. But I do think there’s a conceptual difference here - even if all of these are considered “mass shooting events,” usually we think of those as “angry young men” murders unrelated to theft/gangs etc. and exceedingly rare for the places they occur. That isn’t to say the federal government couldn’t or shouldn’t provide more of such counseling/support services, just that I do see differences.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:00 pm
==Violence interrupters are not the solution==

How’d you determine that?

Comment by Politix Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:08 pm
=How’d you determine that?=

Easy, because it is not working.

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:10 pm
Johnson’s right on this one. Highland Park got these services because a mass shooting in a quiet suburb is a “dog bites man” story that got a lot of attention, whereas gun crime in Chicago gets assigned to the “that’s just the way it is” bin.

But shootings in big cities leave the same emotional wounds for bystanders and loved ones–in fact, untreated trauma from witnessing or being close to this violence itself contributes violent and criminal behavior. Flooding the zone with therapy dogs and counselors won’t solve crimes or prevent them in a single mayoralty, but they will return dividends over time.

Comment by Benjamin Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:11 pm
@Colin O’Scopy: What makes you think it isn’t working? Violent crime is down markedly this year. I won’t claim that’s all due to violence interrupters, but *something* is working, and I’d be interested to hear what you think it is.

Comment by Benjamin Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:14 pm
Last year after the Highland Park shooting, the Parkins and Spiegel Show on 670 AM The Score devoted an entire episode to how Illinois needs to ban assault weapons, limit access to guns and institute red flag laws (which Illinois already has but that’s not the point). During the show a caller mentioned the gun violence in Chicago and both hosts seemed to scoff at the comparison between the Highland Park tragedy and Chicago’s gun violence. Both hosts made comments along the lines of, well that [Chicago gun violence] is not the same problem as mass shooting and the Chicago gun violence is different because there were underlying cultural and poverty issues at play. I was dumb founded by the hypocrisy of their responses. I bring this anecdote up as support for the Mayor’s position. Gun violence in Chicago is treated as just ordinary, run-of-the-mill crime, and not deadly epidemic it truly is.

Comment by Parlay Player Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:15 pm
===Easy, because it is not working. ===

Would you say the same thing about law enforcement?

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:15 pm
Johnson has a tuba and it only plays one note…more money.

Chicago receives a disproportionate amount of state and federal money on almost every level given their considerable local resources.

Unlrealted (but a cots issue)…I cannot wait to see the results of the bargaining with CTU.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:16 pm
@Colin

If the assumption is that the presence of day to day violence means street intervention programs don’t work, it’s incorrect. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Comment by Politix Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:17 pm
This isn’t about Brandon Johnson. This is about folks impacted, physically, mentally, emotionally, psychically, by mass shootings. Whether they’re in Highland Park, Chicago, or Podunk, they should get the same care and concern.

Comment by JoanP Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:21 pm
=Would you say the same thing about law enforcement?=

I think that is an excellent question. I would say yes, including law enforcement.

Comment by Colin O'Scopy Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:23 pm
@Rich — Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Sarah Schulte follow-up in the press conference to say “Hey, we went to these post-shooting support events and no one from the community utilized these services?” Not sure if that was exactly her question, but Johnson didn’t provide an answer.

Comment by Old IL Dude Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:30 pm
The city of chicago already gets money for violence issues. what happened in Highland Park happened to thousands of people, at the same time. It’s an incident of an entirely different order.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:49 pm
People, stay on topic.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:56 pm
Ideally, the city would identify its post-mass shooting needs, design an evidence-based program to meet those needs (survivor services, mental health services, basic necessities, court advocates and liasions to law enforcement, etc) and then ask for funding to support the program. That works a hell of a lot better than bleating at the press.

Comment by Politix Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:57 pm
I only voted after reading the comments which were interesting. Gun violence in Chicago is a major problem that travels. The low rate of convictions assures the problem continues. I don’t think that the Mayor being in Chicago trying to tell people to “cool it” would help one bit. How money is spent and is it effective is the important question.

Comment by James in Little Italy Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:57 pm
I voted no as services offered to HP was a one off to a community that normally does not experience this. Chicago unfortunately has this type of event continuously so one off services are not appropriate. They need a permanent crisis management program. This means it would require a different type of funding strategy. That said the mayor should have his staff work on writing grant applications for a more sustainable funding stream and partnering with the business community to identify strategies to support community members.

Comment by illinifan Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:59 pm
A) Are victims of the mass shootings eligible or ineligible for the same victim services form the FBI as the victims of the Highland Park shooting? B) Has the Mayor actually made a request to the FBI or another federal agency? Or is this just a bit of political technology from the Mayor’s Office? Pretty sure it is the latter.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 3:10 pm
==- Old IL Dude - Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 2:30 pm:==

People don’t use victim services? Or is that victim services are engaged in racist discrimination?

Hint: It’s the latter.

“Black victims were disproportionately denied in many of the states that provided racial data — and often for subjective reasons rooted in implicit biases”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/takeaways-ap-americans-philadelphia-black-b2340282.html

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 3:26 pm
The Mayor really knows how to dig against people who would be his natural allies…
I agree with Illinifan.

Comment by Rahm's Parking Meter Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 3:53 pm
I agree with him. With this kind of trauma leads to so much more violence and personal crises. I am sympathetic to Illinigabs point that there is a need for infrastructure as it’s a recurring problem and certainly the city should be pursuing grants and other funding as well.

Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 4:14 pm
I don’t know how often the FBI offers the services. If they do to most big attacks, it seems fair to ask. But if the parade was an outlier because it was a “terror” type attack and not crime related, I think it makes it murkier, at least so far as Johnson is making it seem like a double standard.

Comment by Perrid Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 4:34 pm
We voted YES. Nothing else seems to work. Let the Feds try to help.

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 4:42 pm
I voted no, but it really depends on MBJ’s response from here on out. If he wants to treat every mass shooting in Chicago with the magnitude of HP, I welcome it. However, constant media attention of our frequent mass shootings hurts everyone’s image. If he can look past that and get Chicagoans to look at its perpetrators the way that HP looks at its perpetrator, then I would vote yes.

Comment by Jurist Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 4:51 pm
What happened in Highland Park was similar to a terrorist attack committed by a deranged gunman.

I haven’t read all of the reports about the 100+ shootings in Chicago over the long weekend, but did see this report in CWB:

“Three more mass shootings followed, but they went unaddressed by Johnson:

Eight people were injured on the Near West Side early Friday morning when at least two gunmen got into a shootout in the 1300 block of West Hastings, according to police. The victims, ranging in age from 18 to 74, survived.

Another shootout left six people injured in the 100 block of South Menard around 1:44 a.m. Friday, police said. Once again, all of the victims survived. They were all between 15 and 25 years old.

At about 3:26 a.m. on Sunday, four people were shot in the 3700 block of South State when a gunfight erupted between a group on the street and a man in a passing truck, according to CPD.”

https://cwbchicago.com/2024/07/104-people-shot-19-fatally-during-independence-day-weekend-in-chicago.html

Three of the four mass shootings in Chicago were the result of gunfights between armed people. We don’t know if they were mutual combatants, CC holders defending themselves, gang-related, domestic violence related, nothing.

The fourth, according the story I linked to, involved two car loads of gunmen shooting up a home at 6:15 in the morning, killing 3 people and seriously injuring two more (women and children).

These are all horrible events, and I hope the victims receive the care and support they deserve and require. But I don’t think the shootings this past weekend in Chicago are the same as what happened in Highland Park.

I don’t have any answers, other than we should make it much harder for people to get guns. I think the Mayor is trying to change the subject, and I think he is failing miserably at stemming the epidemic of gun violence in his city.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 4:53 pm
===let the cops chase and arrest the criminals like they do in the suburbs===

Just leaving this here https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/07/05/illinois-appellate-court-affirms-33-5-million-verdict-from-fatal-dolton-police-chase-court-freezes-funds-in-another-case/

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 5:01 pm
Also, CPD has a chase protocol. Chases aren’t banned.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 5:02 pm
Voted no- might be wise for Johnson to rethink the cashless bail issue if he wants to make his constituents safer. It is totally unbelievable that the Courts are releasing offenders arrested in shooting cases on ankle monitors.

Comment by Sue Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 5:08 pm
Take some responsibility for goodness sake. He quoted as blaming Richard Nixon as well. What a waste this guy is. Resources. Ha.

Comment by 44 Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 8:20 pm
The mass shooting that occurred in Highland Park was the work of a (perhaps) unstable young person who wanted to leave a mark and get attention. The “mass shootings” that are occurring in Chicago are the result of gang violence and retribution that is about terror, influence and power. Both are terrible, but they are not one and the same. We’ve had a gang problem in Chicago for more than 50 years. It’s been well-documented that the attack on the hierarchy of gangs like the GDs and PStones has also impacted the fractionalization of gang activity. But at the end of the day, you know there are key individuals involved in these shootings. The community knows these people are involved in these shootings. But if they are too scared to come forward, or our prosecutors/courts do nothing to keep them away from these communities they terrorize, what help are these resources the Mayor says he wants? We need BOTH a long-term approach (which I agree with) and short-term approach (which we sadly don’t see much of) to deal with the situation we have.

Comment by Just a guy Tuesday, Jul 9, 24 @ 1:19 pm