Shots fired as crowds clash with police in downtown Chicago
'LOOTING IS CONSUMPTION IN ANOTHER FORM'
CARL MARKS
Glass is shattered in the Nordstrom store after a riot occurred in the Gold Coast area of the city early in the morning of Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in Chicago. Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city's downtown. (Jose M. Osorio /Chicago Tribune via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police early Monday in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city’s downtown.
At one point, shots were fired at police and officers returned fire, police spokesman Tom Ahern said on Twitter. No officers were injured in the shooting. Many of the businesses that were ransacked had recently opened after Chicago protests of George Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis devolved into chaos.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the unrest, which began shortly after midnight, but anti-police graffiti was seen in the area. Hours earlier, dozens of people had faced off with police after officers shot and wounded a person Sunday in the city’s Englewood neighborhood, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.
A person exits an Old Navy store in the Chicago Loop with an armful of clothing in the early morning of Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in Chicago. Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police early Monday in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city's downtown. (Jose M. Osorio /Chicago Tribune via AP)
Chicago and its suburbs, like many other cities, saw unrest following the death of Floyd. Chicago’s central business district and its commercial areas were shut down for several days after violence erupted and stores were damaged in the wake of marches protesting Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died after a white officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe.
In the Sunday shooting in Englewood, police said in a statement that they responded about 2:30 p.m. Sunday to a call about a person with a gun and tried to confront someone matching his description in an alley. He fled from officers on foot and shot at officers, police said.
Officers returned fire, wounding him, and a gun was recovered, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment and three officers involved also were taken to a hospital for observation, the statement said.
More than an hour after the shooting, police and witnesses said a crowd faced off with police after someone reportedly told people that police had shot and wounded a child. That crowd eventually dispersed.
CARL MARKS
Glass is shattered in the Nordstrom store after a riot occurred in the Gold Coast area of the city early in the morning of Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in Chicago. Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city's downtown. (Jose M. Osorio /Chicago Tribune via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police early Monday in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city’s downtown.
At one point, shots were fired at police and officers returned fire, police spokesman Tom Ahern said on Twitter. No officers were injured in the shooting. Many of the businesses that were ransacked had recently opened after Chicago protests of George Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis devolved into chaos.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the unrest, which began shortly after midnight, but anti-police graffiti was seen in the area. Hours earlier, dozens of people had faced off with police after officers shot and wounded a person Sunday in the city’s Englewood neighborhood, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.
A person exits an Old Navy store in the Chicago Loop with an armful of clothing in the early morning of Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in Chicago. Hundreds of people smashed windows, stole from stores and clashed with police early Monday in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city's downtown. (Jose M. Osorio /Chicago Tribune via AP)
Asked for updates on the situation, Ahern told The Associated Press in an email that police planned to hold a news conference Monday morning. Police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot were expected to attend.
Along the Magnificent Mile, people were seen going in and out of stores carrying shopping bags full of merchandise as well as at a bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, and as the crowd grew vehicles dropped off more people in the area. On streets throughout the downtown area, empty cash drawers from stores were strewn about and ATMs were ripped open.
Stores miles from downtown were also ransacked, with parking lots littered with glass and items from inside the stores. Clothes hangers and boxes that once contained television sets and other electronics were seen — evidence that thieves had taken racks of clothes and removed them from the hangers.
“This was obviously very orchestrated,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a prominent Roman Catholic priest and activist on the city’s South Side, told WBBM-TV as cameras panned the downtown area.
One officer was seen slumped against a building, several arrests were made and a rock was thrown at a police vehicle, the newspaper said. Police worked early Monday to disperse the crowds.
There was a large police presence Monday morning outside an Apple store located north of Chicago’s downtown area. Blocks away, debris was strewn in parking lots in front of a Best Buy and a large liquor store.
Train and bus service into downtown was temporarily suspended at the request of public safety officials, the Chicago Transit Authority said on Twitter. Bridges over the Chicago River were lifted, preventing travel to and from the downtown area, and Illinois State Police blocked some expressway ramps into downtown.
Along the Magnificent Mile, people were seen going in and out of stores carrying shopping bags full of merchandise as well as at a bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, and as the crowd grew vehicles dropped off more people in the area. On streets throughout the downtown area, empty cash drawers from stores were strewn about and ATMs were ripped open.
Stores miles from downtown were also ransacked, with parking lots littered with glass and items from inside the stores. Clothes hangers and boxes that once contained television sets and other electronics were seen — evidence that thieves had taken racks of clothes and removed them from the hangers.
“This was obviously very orchestrated,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a prominent Roman Catholic priest and activist on the city’s South Side, told WBBM-TV as cameras panned the downtown area.
One officer was seen slumped against a building, several arrests were made and a rock was thrown at a police vehicle, the newspaper said. Police worked early Monday to disperse the crowds.
There was a large police presence Monday morning outside an Apple store located north of Chicago’s downtown area. Blocks away, debris was strewn in parking lots in front of a Best Buy and a large liquor store.
Train and bus service into downtown was temporarily suspended at the request of public safety officials, the Chicago Transit Authority said on Twitter. Bridges over the Chicago River were lifted, preventing travel to and from the downtown area, and Illinois State Police blocked some expressway ramps into downtown.
Chicago and its suburbs, like many other cities, saw unrest following the death of Floyd. Chicago’s central business district and its commercial areas were shut down for several days after violence erupted and stores were damaged in the wake of marches protesting Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died after a white officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe.
In the Sunday shooting in Englewood, police said in a statement that they responded about 2:30 p.m. Sunday to a call about a person with a gun and tried to confront someone matching his description in an alley. He fled from officers on foot and shot at officers, police said.
Officers returned fire, wounding him, and a gun was recovered, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment and three officers involved also were taken to a hospital for observation, the statement said.
More than an hour after the shooting, police and witnesses said a crowd faced off with police after someone reportedly told people that police had shot and wounded a child. That crowd eventually dispersed.
LOOTING LOSSES ARE COVERED BY INSURANCE
LOOTING IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
IT IS NOT VIOLENCE NOR IS IT VIOLENT
THEY LOOTED THE AVENUES OF THE RICH
THEY LOOTED THE AVENUES OF THE RICH
BLACK FRIDAY AT WALMART
NOW THAT'S VIOLENCE
AND IT'S SHOPPER ARE VIOLENT
Mass looting breaks out in Chicago; shots fired, 100 arrested(Reuters) - Chicago police exchanged gunfire with looters and arrested more than 100 people after crowds swarmed Chicago’s luxury commercial district early Monday, looting stores, smashing windows and clashing with officers for hours, police said.
Police Superintendent David Brown called the outbreak “pure criminality,” and Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought to distance the incident from the “righteous uprising” in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.
“This was not an organized protest. Rather this was an incident of pure criminality,” Brown told a news conference.
At least 13 officers were injured, and a security guard and a civilian were struck by gunfire, Brown said.
Social media images showed storefronts bashed in and people fleeing stores with arms full of goods, with much of the action taking place along Michigan Avenue, the upscale commercial district known as the Magnificent Mile.
People were drawn by a number of social media posts encouraging looting in central Chicago after tensions flared following the police shooting of a man with a gun, Brown said.
As police questioned a 20-year-old suspect, he fled, firing at the pursuing officers, Brown said. Police returned fire and shot the man, who was hospitalized and expected to survive.
“After the shooting, a crowd gathered. ... Tempers flared, fueled by misinformation as the afternoon turned into evening,” Brown said.
In response to the social media posts, police sent 400 officers into the area, where they were met by caravans of people arriving in cars, Brown said.
As officers arrested one man carrying a cash register, shots were fired at them from a passing vehicle, and police fired back, Brown said.
Brown pledged a police crackdown in central Chicago, assigning officers to 12-hour shifts and canceling days off.
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