Chicago, IL — Even as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accusing President Trump of trying to “terrorize” her city by sending in federal forces to quell skyrocketing crime, bullets were flying Tuesday evening outside a South Side funeral home in a shocking fusillade of gunfire that left at least 14 people wounded.
Lightfoot’s Twitter message vowing to bar the feds and referring to the Trump administration as a “dictatorship” went out almost simultaneously as the drive-by attack, and on a day when a number of other shootings occurred elsewhere in the city.
“Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents,” Lightfoot wrote.
Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.
— Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 21, 2020
“We do not welcome dictatorship.” – Mayor Lightfoot
So it seems that Lightfoot operates under the “ABT philosophy: Anybody But Trump’s troops are acceptable.
After news spread about the funeral home shootings, Lightfoot vowed those responsible would be held accountable.
“Too many guns are on our streets and in the hands of people who should never possess them,” Lightfoot wrote. “These individuals will be held accountable. I ask that anyone with information on this incident please come forward or submit a tip anonymously at cpdtip.com.”
Too many guns are on our streets and in the hands of people who should never possess them. These individuals will be held accountable. I ask that anyone with information on this incident please come forward or submit a tip anonymously at https://t.co/Tt6O9g49ZD.
— Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 22, 2020
The victims were shot while leaving the funeral home when a fast-moving vehicle rode past around 6:30 p.m. local time, according to the police.
Some of those in attendance at the funeral shot back at the vehicle before it crashed shortly thereafter. the victims were taken to five hospitals in serious and critical conditions. One person has been arrested but the Chicago PD haven’t given a motive or said if the shooter and the victims knew each other.
On Monday, President Trump vowed to send federal forces into the city. That same day, Lightfoot told MSNBC she would not allow “tyranny” in Chicago. This was in reference to the controversial tactics used by federal agents sent in to quell rioting to help solve the unrest in Portland, Oregon.
The Chicago Tribune reported the city would be working “collaboratively” with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to bring down the violent crime.
Lightfoot stated, “All those agencies are here. They’ve been here for decades. They have ongoing cases that they’re investigating,” according to Fox 32 in Chicago. Cities frequently work with federal agencies on cases involving drugs and violent crime.
A neighbor who lives near the funeral home said she went outside when they heard gunshots. “All we saw was bodies just laying everywhere. They were shot up everywhere,” Arnita Geder told the Sun-Times. “We thought it was a war out here. It’s ridiculous all the shooting that’s going on out here, it really has to stop.”
Lightfoot said Tuesday the city welcomes actual “partnership” with the federal government. “But we do not welcome dictatorship, we do not welcome authoritarianism and we do not welcome unconstitutional arrest and detainment of our residents,” she told the Tribune.
In references to Portland, Lightfood stated that the City would go to court if the federal government deployed “unnamed federal special secret agents onto our streets to detain people without cause and effectively take away their civil rights and their civil liberties without due process.
The latest shooting came a day after more than 20 people were shot in the city Monday and after a deadly weekend in which 63 people were shot and 12 were killed.
Lightfoot was among several big-city mayors demanding the withdrawal of “federal forces” earlier this week in two letters to Attorney General Bill Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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