Lightfoot warns city could be sent ‘into chaos’ after Kim Foxx’s latest decision to reject charges
The mayor and five aldermen Monday urged prosecutors to reconsider charging five suspects in a deadly Austin shootout between members of rival gang factions.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a group of City Council members urged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Monday to reconsider prosecuting five suspects in a deadly gang-related shootout last week in Austin after they were released when prosecutors rejected charges against them.
Chicago police sought to charge all five suspects with murder and aggravated battery after they allegedly engaged in a Friday morning gunfight between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported.
The state’s attorney’s office, however, declined to charge any of them, claiming the evidence was insufficient. A police report further noted that prosecutors told investigators charges were rejected because the shootout involved “mutual combatants.”
During an unrelated news conference at Prosser Career Academy in Hanson Park Monday, Lightfoot explained that she and a group of West Side aldermen sent a letter to Foxx imploring her to reconsider filing charges in the case.
“It’s complicated, for sure, but we really urge the state’s attorney herself to get personally involved, look at the evidence,” Lightfoot said. “And I believe that there are charges that can be brought at a minimum against the individuals who initiated the gunfire. We can’t live in a world where there’s no accountability.”
The Area 5 detectives investigating the shootout have been at odds with the state’s attorney’s office over other high-profile cases prosecutors refused to take up, including the fatal shootings of National Guard member Chrys Carjaval in July and 7-year-old Serenity Broughton in August.
Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, members of the Body Snatchers faction of the Four Corner Hustlers drove to the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue in two Dodge Chargers and began shooting into a home using handguns that were modified into automatic weapons, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. Members of the rival Jack Boys faction then fired back from inside the home.
More than 70 shell casings were found outside the home, according to the source, who noted that likely doesn’t include the number of shots that were fired from inside. Three men were struck, including a member of the Body Snatchers who died. The gun battle, which was caught on police POD camera, only came to a halt when a police cruiser pulled up.
One of the Chargers was later found torched, while the other was recovered after the driver crashed during a chase with Oak Park police, the source and the report noted. The Jack Boys, meanwhile, refused to leave the home on Mason, causing a standoff that required a SWAT team to respond.
Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, warned that a lack of consequences could send a dangerous message as the city grapples with a continued surge in violent crime.
“If they do not feel like the criminal justice system is going to hold them accountable, we’re going to see a level of brazenness that will send this city into chaos,” she said of those stoking the violence. “And we cannot let that happen.”
Ald. Chris Taliaferro, who represents the 29th Ward where the shooting erupted, demanded answers about the investigation during a budget hearing with top police officials earlier Monday.
“The state’s attorney’s office failed to charge any of them and they were all released without charges,” said Taliaferro, who chairs the Public Safety Committee and signed onto the letter to Foxx. “I find that very horrific when we are in the midst of trying to reduce violence in the city to make these neighborhoods safer for our residents.”
He added: “Those folks are back on the streets. And I can almost guarantee you they’ll be shooting up again this weekend.”
Supt. David Brown agreed that the shootout was between “mutual combatants,” saying it wasn’t immediately clear who fired first and who may have been acting in self-defense. But in cases involving mutual combat, Brown said police seek charges against everyone involved and look to “have the jury sort it out.”
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan later acknowledged there were some issues building cases against the suspects and said the police video footage doesn’t clearly show who was shooting into the home. None of the arrestees cooperated with investigators.
Still, in cases like these, if CPD cannot secure a murder charge, they often seek “some sort of possession of gun charge or some sort of discharge of a firearm” charge, Deenihan said.
Cristina Villareal, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, didn’t immediately respond to questions Monday. In a statement Sunday, Villareal said prosecutors had “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges” — a decision she claimed police officials agreed with.
In the letter to Foxx, Lightfoot and the City Council members said that simply wasn’t true as they voiced their opposition to the state’s attorney’s office’s decision.
The leaders specifically asked Foxx to reconsider felony charges, such as attempted murder, against two individuals who helped spark the shootout, apparently referencing the Body Snatchers who were taken into custody. But they also urged her to continue scrutinizing the other men who were arrested after the SWAT situation at the home.
“Giving these kinds of violent offenders a pass when their crime is fully captured on video and with police on the scene is simply unacceptable,” they wrote. “What can we tell the residents of this community about the legitimacy of the criminal justice system?”
Tell the residents of the community they got exactly what they voted for.. full stop period..
ReplyDeleteMutual combatants, well then they should reserve time at Soldier's Field, put guns on the fifty yard line and the the combatants can line up on opposing end zones and when the whistle blows the run to pick up the guns and have a serious game of dodge ball.
ReplyDeleteSo, if the Bears move to Arlington Heights. Can we make Soldier Field a
Delete"mutual combat" arena and have subjects from "the community" entertain us?????
I'm confused, I thought NFL Sunday was subjects entertaining us
Delete