CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department on Thursday reported 22 shootings and six homicide deaths during the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in the city this week.
While much attention has been focused on pro-Palestine demonstrations during the DNC, convention delegates have not been immune from the spate of crime. A member of the Texas delegation was robbed at gunpoint while walking in downtown Chicago on Wednesday morning.
The Windy City also endured a particularly violent weekend leading up to the convention. Over last weekend, 26 shooting incidents totaled 30 victims, including five who died, police say.
In the first three days of the DNC, according to the Chicago Police Department:
• On Monday, there were eight shootings, four of which were fatal, and an armed robbery.
• On Tuesday, there were five shootings involving 12 victims and an aggravated battery shooting.
• On Wednesday, there were nine shootings involving 12 victims, one of whom died, and a stabbing.
So far the violence hasn’t reached the convention site at the United Center, located a few miles from downtown, and has taken police in some of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods, according to police statistics. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters Monday that officers are “protecting the entire city.”
“Our officers are out there. They’re out there. They’re highly visible,” he said. “And we have officers not only along the corridors downtown, in and around the venues of the Democratic National Convention, but also in our neighborhoods to continue to protect our people who are living in areas that are the most vulnerable.”
During his remarks to the delegates on Monday, President Biden bragged that violent crime has come down under his administration. However, that claim is based on data compiled by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and relies largely on reporting from city officials that is often incomplete.
As part of Thursday’s DNC program, several speakers were addressing gun violence.
Even if crime is down nationally, it has soared in Chicago over the past year. Violent crime in Chicago grew to its highest level in a decade in 2023, but the arrest rate dropped, according to data from the Illinois Policy Institute. In 2023, violent crime in Chicago was 11.5% higher than it was in 2022.
There were at least 617 homicides in Chicago in 2023, making it the nation’s murder capital for the 12th consecutive year. Murders are down slightly in the city this year, with 344 through Aug. 4, compared with 379 at the same date last year, or a drop of 9%.
On Tuesday, morning a 25-year-old man was robbed around 2 a.m. near the Allegro Royal Sonesta Hotel — in the heart of downtown — when two men in a black Range Rover pulled up to him as he walked along the sidewalk, according to local media reports. The assailant then crossed the street to rob the Texas delegate and his friend.
The same pair is suspected of robbing people outside the Emily Hotel, according to police.
Other incidents include a 17-year-old boy driving along W. 26th St. on Monday when a truck approached him and an unknown person fired multiple shots in the victim’s direction, leaving him “struck in the left shoulder,” according to the Chicago Police Department. He was later pronounced dead.
Also Monday, a 32-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the city’s Englewood neighborhood when a blue sedan approached him and fired shots, police said. He sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead on the scene.
On Tuesday, officers discovered six victims — all men ranging from 39 to 51 — with gunshot wounds along S. Ashland Ave. A 46-year-old man was pronounced dead.
There was also a SWAT incident Tuesday that lasted 14 hours when a man barricaded himself inside a restaurant on the 2300 block of W. Madison Ave.
Among the chaos on Day Three was the shooting of a 26-year-old man who was shot three times in the torso in the city’s Beverly View neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Hospital.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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