Chicago's top cop laments violence as 66 shot, 5 fatally, over long Fourth of July weekend
CHICAGO - The challenge facing Chicago remains clear after the long Fourth of July weekend saw 66 people shot, five fatally - yet those numbers were actually good by comparison with recent Independence Day weekends.
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson took no solace in that fact, lamenting on Monday the violence over the four-day weekend as he returned to a familiar refrain at a news conference by blaming the criminal justice system for quickly freeing too many people caught illegally carrying guns.
"As a black man who grew up in public housing in the city of Chicago, trust me: I understand the stranglehold that gangs have over certain neighborhoods, and I understand because I lived it," Johnson told reporters at
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