XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: soc.culture.african.american   
   From: primates@shaw.ca   
      
   By Paige Fry, Armando L. Sanchez and Shanzeh Ahmad   
   Chicago Tribune   
   •   
   May 20, 2022 at 5:41 pm   
      
   Paramedics transport a person who was wounded by gunfire at the scene of a   
   mass shooting near Chicago Avenue and State Street on May 19, 2022, in   
   Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)   
      
   Violence again flared downtown late Thursday when nine people were shot,   
   two fatally, near a fast-food restaurant and CTA station on the Near North   
   Side, a shooting that came just days after the fatal shooting of a   
   teenager near The Bean during a mass gathering of young people last   
   weekend.   
      
   The back-to-back high-profile shootings downtown drew further response   
   Friday from the mayor and police leaders, who have struggled to contain   
   the violence as summer looms. Both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent   
   David Brown immediately blamed Thursday’s shooting on parents not keeping   
   track of their children and a flood of guns entering the city, many   
   carried by young people who now use them in fights that in years past may   
   not have been deadly.   
      
   Lightfoot also again called for a visible police presence downtown,   
   including fixed posts at the corner where the shooting Thursday took place   
   at Chicago Avenue and State Street, and at the Chicago Avenue stop on the   
   CTA Red Line. Brown said police had in fact instantly created a fixed post   
   in the area and at the CTA station in question, in addition to roving   
   units.   
      
   Lightfoot said too many youths have said they need to carry guns to feel   
   safe, and that needs to be addressed.   
      
   “You have a ticking time bomb in your hand, in your pocket, in your   
   purse,” she said.   
      
   The latest shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Thursday in the 800 block of   
   North State Street outside the Chicago Avenue subway station and a   
   McDonald’s. Police said one person started firing a gun into a crowd   
   during a “personal conflict” outside the fast-food outlet, then the   
   shooter and others fled into the Red Line station where one person was   
   injured on the third rail of the subway tracks.   
      
   One person, believed to be the shooter, was arrested and charges were   
   pending, Brown said.   
      
   The McDonald’s and nearby blocks have been a hot spot off and on over the   
   past few years. Corporate offices for the fast-food giant declined to   
   comment on the company’s commitment to the location, which was closed by   
   the city Friday.   
      
   The mayor resisted any call to bring out the National Guard to deal with   
   violence, as the city saw during days of unrest two summers ago. The main   
   issue is juveniles with guns, the mayor said again, not any issue that   
   military strength could address.   
      
   Around lunchtime Friday, State and Chicago was packed with people. Many of   
   them walked up to the closed McDonald’s, which had police tape in front of   
   one door and traffic cones blocking the drive-thru.   
      
   One passerby said, “Oh, that was this McDonald’s?”   
      
   “Crazy what’s happening in our country right now,” another said, as he   
   changed course from McDonald’s to a Taco Bell next door.   
      
   Jim Smaron, a retired accountant who has lived in the area since 2010,   
   said when he first moved to the neighborhood, he considered it safe.   
      
   “It seems like in the last three, four years, it’s gotten worse,” Smaron   
   said. “It’s the first time I’ve heard of a fatal shooting in the area from   
   what I can remember.”   
      
   He said the area around the McDonald’s, especially with the Red Line right   
   out front, has “always been a problem,” and with the new Whole Foods   
   kitty-corner to the McDonald’s, more and more people will be drawn to the   
   area.   
      
   “It goes away a little bit when the police are patrolling, like they are   
   now, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” he said. “Mayor Lightfoot talked   
   about improving crime, and it doesn’t seem to be improved. Not only around   
   here but in all of Chicago. I can’t quite understand what’s going on.”   
      
   The 18th District, where the McDonald’s is located, has seen an increase   
   from five to 15 shooting victims this year through May 18, according to   
   official police data. That total is expected to jump after Thursday   
   night’s shooting.   
      
   A worker sweeps up broken glass from a door of a McDonald's restaurant in   
   Chicago after a mass shooting Thursday night. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago   
   Tribune)   
      
   The city had been shocked earlier in the week by the fatal shooting of 16-   
   year-old Seandell Holliday near The Bean in Millennium Park. It was   
   unclear what role new rules that went into effect Thursday closing   
   Millennium Park to unaccompanied minors might have played in moving groups   
   of young people to other parts of downtown.   
      
   Brown rejected the idea the Millennium Park limits on youths played into   
   the shooting or the moving of the gathering place for younger people. He   
   noted the corner has been a “long-standing” problem spot and blamed the   
   gunfire on the easy availability of guns.   
      
   “It’s not based off anything related to Millennium Park,” Brown said,   
   including the use of police resources there compared to other places in   
   the center of the city.   
      
   “This is a gun crime crisis in our city and our country,” Brown said.   
   Because someone in the crowd who was involved in the argument had a   
   weapon, gunfire erupted.   
      
   “We are awash in guns,” Brown said.   
      
   The person detained in Thursday’s shooting has not yet been identified as   
   police are working with prosecutors to charge the possible shooter, Brown   
   said. Police are “confident our officers captured the shooter and   
   recovered the weapon used.”   
      
   Items used to treat victims from Thursday night's shooting on the sidewalk   
   near Chicago Avenue and State Street on May 20, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio /   
   Chicago Tribune)   
      
   Brown again also blamed the court system for gun offenders receiving lower   
   bonds with putting more alleged criminals back onto the streets. Top   
   judges and legal experts have questioned that correlation.   
      
   The two fatalities in the shooting included Antonio Wade, 30, who died due   
   to multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide, according   
   to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Police had said he was shot   
   in the chest and pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.   
      
   The second person who died was a 31-year-old man, who was shot in the back   
   and pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, police said.   
      
   The most seriously wounded victim appeared to be a 19-year-old man shot in   
   the chest who was listed in critical condition at Northwestern, police   
   said.   
      
   People watch officers and paramedics work the scene where two people were   
   shot and killed near Chicago Avenue and State Street late Thursday.   
   (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)   
   On the night of the shooting, a Red Line train traveling through the area   
   was stopped between stations while authorities searched for a weapon on   
   the subway’s rails, said Chief Juan Hernandez, a spokesperson with the   
      
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