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Two people were shot, more than 100 people were arrested and 13 police officers were injured as crowds broke windows and looted stores along Michigan Avenue and on the Near North Side overnight and into Monday morning.
Supt. David Brown called the looting “pure criminality” in a news conference Monday morning, not connected to any protest.
“Criminals took to the streets with the confidence that there would be no consequences for their actions,” Brown said, adding that police would aggressively pursue cases against people involved in the looting.
“You have no right, no right to take and destroy the property of others,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at the news conference. “We are coming for you. ... I don’t care what justification was given for this. There is no justification.”
The police have started a neighborhood protection plan, and Brown said a team of detectives has been assigned to scour security footage of all incidents.
Access to downtown will be restricted from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., effective Monday night, Brown said.
For several hours this morning, there were no bus or train service in the area bordered by Fullerton and Ashland avenues and Cermak road for several hours, the CTA said. The transit agency was in the process of restoring normal service shortly before 8 a.m.
All downtown bridges except LaSalle Street were raised. The Chicago Department of Transportation said they were being lowered again as of 7:15 a.m., but ongoing street closures could be expected throughout the downtown area.
Brown said “the seeds for the shameful destruction we saw last night” started with a police-involved shooting in Englewood Sunday afternoon. About 2:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of a man with a gun. He fled as they arrived, Brown said, and fired at officers. They returned fire, striking the man, who was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital and is expected to survive. The 20-year-old man had previously faced charges of domestic battery, reckless conduct and child endangerment, Brown said.
After the shooting, a crowd gathered in the area. “Tempers flared, fueled by misinformation,” Brown said. Shortly after that, police became aware of “several social media posts” about looting planned downtown. He said the department reacted by deploying 400 officers to the downtown area.
Source: Chicago Sun Times
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