CHICAGO — Near the corner of Laramie Avenue and Chicago Avenue in Austin, a group of mothers is camping outside the vacant Laramie State Bank building this holiday weekend, fasting and praying for an end to gun violence in Chicago.
“Our kids have no hope,” Garfield Park Chamber member Siri Hibbler said.
There were more than a dozen overnight shootings heading into Saturday, including a shooting that left a 19-year-old man dead in the city’s Belmont-Cragin neighborhood.
In Lawndale, a 39-year-old man was shot to death while riding in the backseat of a car, while a 40-year-old man was killed in Englewood after being confronted for playing music too loud.
Two other fatal shootings occurred Friday night in the Roseland and Hermosa neighborhoods.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD Supt. David Brown addressed City Council members in a contentious meeting Friday discussing public safety.
“The police think of having something to report, better statistics and data. The mayor thinks about being re-elected and keep her image up,” pastor Jacqueline Reed said.
Hibbler said the statistics and data the city mentions mean nothing when children are losing their lives.
“You have babies being shot in the head. This thing has to cease and desist and it has to stop now,” Hibbler said.