Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is lashing out at Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx for citing "mutual combatants" in her decision not to press charges against those arrested in a deadly daylight neighborhood shootout caught on camera last week between rival gang members.
"She's got to explain to the public, why? Given that evidence, a pod camera right there that captured the entire thing and police officers on the scene in uniform, and a squad car there, why that isn't enough?" Lightfoot said at a press conference Monday. "If the bad guys that are out there that are picking up guns and shooting without any regard for the sanctity of life, do not believe that there's accountability for them, the brazenness will not end. It will escalate, it will continue and our communities will not be safe."
One person was killed and five others were taken into custody and later released in connection to the shootout that happened in the Austin neighborhood Friday on the city’s West Side. Three gang members began shooting into a single-family home in broad daylight in an effort to draw out members of an opposing gang faction. Three individuals inside returned fire, killing one of the offenders outside.
More than 70 rounds of shells were recovered from the shooting captured by a city camera, and a set of uniformed officers in a marked squad car were also on the scene within a short period of time and witnessed the activity, Lightfoot, as well as five alderman, in a letter obtained by Fox 32, implored Foxx to reconsider felony charges, like attempted murder, at least against the two surviving initial aggressors.
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"We can't live in a world where there is no accountability," the mayor said. "When there's no accountability, meaning individuals who wreak havoc, who fire indiscriminately or fire at a target but without any regard for the sanctity of life and the health and well-being of others, 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 the city into chaos. We cannot let that happen."
