CHICAGO — Calling Chicago’s most violent weekend so far this year “despicable,” police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stuck to the department’s usual explanation for what went wrong, blaming the flow of illegal guns and a too lenient court system.
“Unfortunately, over the past 72 hours in Chicago, we saw a despicable level of violence,” Superintendent Johnson said at a news conference Monday at police headquarters. “Weekends like this remind us all of the challenges that we face and that they are complex and profound.”
According to the department, at least 52 people were shot, 10 fatally, from 6 p.m. Friday until midnight Monday. More than half the victims — 31 to be specific — were wounded during a 12-hour burst of gunfire from Friday evening to Saturday morning in areas of the South and West sides that have long struggled with crime, poverty and hopelessness. Four of them died.
Police officials said the violence over the weekend came amid gang conflicts, drug-dealing and personal disputes that went awry.
Superintendent Johnson said some shootings took place with officers a short distance from the gunfire. Austin District Cmdr. Ernest Cato, for instance, was a half a block away when shooting erupted, prompting him to join his officers from the West Side district on foot patrol, according to Superintendent Johnson.
“That just shows you how emboldened some of these individuals are,” the superintendent, flanked by seven of his top deputies, told reporters. “And it’s ridiculous that we just cannot get this right in terms of holding people accountable and finding alternatives for certain individuals.”
Police swarm mall in Torrance, Calif., after gunman opens fire
LOS ANGELES — Police are searching for a suspect in the shooting of a person Monday afternoon at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, Calif.
The Torrance Police Department responded at 2:56 p.m. PDT to reports of shots fired at the mall in the South Bay region of greater Los Angeles.
Upon arrival, they found one victim with a gunshot wound, who was taken to a hospital. No further details have been made available about the victim.
Authorities said a preliminary investigation identified the suspect as a male Latino between 20 and 25 with a shaved head, wearing a black shirt and checkered shorts.
Officers and a SWAT team are on scene clearing the area, and detectives are conducting a follow-up investigation.
Law enforcement sources said shots broke out near the mall’s food court and that one person was injured.
A video posted to social media showed a person bleeding on the floor of the shopping center as other mallgoers appear to be trying to stop the bleeding.
A source said police believe the gunman either fled or was hiding in the mall.
Kushner is mum on Trump's birther conspiracy theory
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, professed his own innocence when asked in an interview on “Axios on HBO” that aired Sunday whether it was racist to question, as Mr. Trump did for five years, whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
“Look, I wasn’t really involved in that,” Mr. Kushner told Jonathan Swan of Axios when asked, “Was birtherism racist?”
The question referred to the campaign by Mr. Trump to undermine the legitimacy of the nation’s first black president. The conspiracy theory, never supported by any credible evidence, vaulted the real estate mogul and reality television star to political relevance. Mr. Trump didn’t abandon the idea until September 2016, more than a year into his presidential bid, which Mr. Kushner was instrumental in guiding.
“I know you weren’t,” Mr. Swan said, shrugging. “Was it racist?”
“Like I said, I wasn’t involved in that,” Mr. Kushner repeated.
Asked a third time whether he perceived the behavior by his father-in-law to be racist, even if he didn’t take part in it himself, Mr. Kushner offered: “Look, I know who the president is, and I have not seen anything in him that is racist. So again, I was not involved in that.” He declined to say whether he wished Mr. Trump had not become the face of birtherism, maintaining once more: “I was not involved in that. That was a long time ago.”
House Judiciary Committee to hold hearing on Mueller report, without Mueller
WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next week on the Mueller report - but the report’s author will not attend.
The panel announced Monday that it will convene on June 10 for a hearing titled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes.”
Former U.S. attorneys and legal experts are expected to attend, as is John Dean, the former White House counsel under President Richard Nixon who accused Mr. Nixon of being directly involved in the Watergate coverup and later served four months in prison for obstruction of justice.
Also in the nation …
In a decision expected to send a chill through the booming stem-cell industry, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Food and Drug Administration Monday in a lawsuit against a Florida-based stem cell company whose treatments have blinded at least four patients. … The FDA found substantial levels of a worrisome class of nonstick, stain-resistant industrial compounds in some grocery store meats and seafood and in off-the-shelf chocolate cake, according to administration researchers. … Airlines worldwide must inspect 312 of Boeing’s 737 family of aircraft, including some of the grounded 737 Max, because they have wing components that are prone to cracking and must be repaired within 10 days, U.S. aviation regulators said Sunday. …
First Published: June 4, 2019, 7:41 a.m.
