At Least 50 Shot & 10 Killed In Chicago As Police Stalemate Over City Vax Mandate Drags On

Currently the city of Chicago and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hugely controversial vaccine status disclosure mandate for police officers remains at a tense stalemate, a week after an Illinois judge handed the police union a major victory, ruling that an arbitrator must examine the policy before the city can implement it based on prior union agreements and rules with the city.

After the restraining order was issued by Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara Jr said: “We’re simply asking this judge to force the city to stop their policy, put officers back to work, and force the city to go back to the bargaining table and arbitration.”

Things are still at a standstill with this ongoing fight which has grabbed headlines, but violent crime certainly isn’t on pause. This past weekend saw gun violence soar once again, with at least 50 people reported shot, including ten killed, according to a Monday update by police records.

Tragically as with a number of other preceding weekends, many of the victims were young, including a 4-year old boy rushed to the hospital after a shooting in south Chicago. Local reports detail, “Police said four of the victims were under 18 years old, including a boy, 4, who was wounded in a shooting Friday evening in a South Chicago neighborhood, Chicago’s WBBM-TV reported.”

“The boy was taken to South Shore Hospital in good condition after being shot in the right thigh, left thigh, and hand, police said,” the report indicates.

Additionally, instances of teens being shot in seemingly random violence in public venues across the city were detailed as follows: 

Two people, including a 16-year-old boy, were shot in a park Saturday morning in East Garfield Park. Just before noon, the pair were at Garfield Park near the 3400-block of West Madison Street when someone opened fire, police said. The teen boy was shot in the head and foot and was transported to Stroger in critical condition, police said. A man, 25, was struck in the leg and was taken to the same hospital, where he was stabilized.

A 17-year-old was shot in front of a store Friday night in Chatham on the South Side. The teen was standing about 11:45 p.m. in the 8600-block of South Cottage Grove Avenue when someone dressed in all black approached and opened fire, striking him in the leg and back, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Over the course of the past month, since the city’s vaccine mandate was met with fierce union resistance, up to multiple dozens of officers were reported relieved of duty – being placed on “no pay” status – for their refusal to comply. 

Meanwhile, after the police union called out Mayor Lightfoot for being seen maskless at tightly-packed public events with hundreds of people, The Babylon Bee nails the absurdity of the situation with this hilarious but grim headline in jest…

Chicago Mayor Limits Gatherings To Ten People Unless You’re Involved In A Drive-By https://t.co/93VDkIMCzj

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 8, 2021

It’s believed that up to the point of the judge halting officers being removed from active duty last week, the city had not yet gone after patrol officers, no doubt wary of “all hell breaking loose” – even more so than the usual violent crime that tends to spike on weekends.