Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council announced this month they intend to defund and dismantle the city’s police department following the death of George Floyd while he was in of the city’s police department.
So you gotta’ wonder what they’re doing now.
On Sunday night, 12 people were shot in a mass shooting, which took place in a district of the city that CNN said has been plagued by protests and riots since Floyd’s death. The mass assault left one dead and at least 11 wounded.
“Screams were audible on a live video posted to Facebook that showed the aftermath at the scene,” a local Minnesota CBS affiliate said Sunday. “Small crowds of people gathered, with some crouched over victims lying on the pavement before police officers on bicycles showed up to attend to them. Splatters of blood on the pavement were visible in the video after the victims were taken to local hospitals — some via ambulance and others in private vehicles, according to the police release.”
Meanwhile, Chicago exploded in violence over the weekend, with more than 100 people shot and at least 14 killed, including five children, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The youngest victim was three years old.
“A 3-year-old boy was fatally wounded when someone opened fire at his father while they were driving in [Chicago’s Austin neighborhood],” the Sun-Times said. “The toddler, identified as Mekay James, was struck in the back about 6:25 p.m. when someone in a blue Honda pulled behind the black SUV the boy’s 27-year-old father was driving in the 600 block of North Central Avenue and fired several rounds, authorities said.”
Four other minors also died in shootings, shot in an alley on the city’s south side. And a teenage girl was shot in the neck while sitting inside her home.
In total, 12 minors were among the 104 people shot.
“Tears are a natural reaction to these tragic stories of violence. But we need to do more than just cry,” David Brown, the city’s police superintendent, said at a press conference, according to CBS Chicago. “Let’s keep violent offenders in jail longer, and let’s revamp the home monitoring system. It’s not working.”
Like Minneapolis, Chicago officials have expressed support for the “Defund the Police” movement. Protesters demand mayor Lori Lightfoot move taxpayer money from the city’s law enforcement agencies to social services, like mental health programs. But two city lawmaker want to completely defunding of Chicago’s cops, the Sun-Times said.
