Chicago police are bracing for a hostile week during the Democratic National Convention, as the city continues to grapple with a weekend of crime.
At least eleven people were shot, three of them fatally, in Chicago over the weekend, as violence continued to rock the city.
With the police already overstretched, many businesses have boarded up their facades in anticipation of the expected protests and possible looting.
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets during the DNC. Although Chicago officials have approved a “March on the DNC” rally near the convention, Mayor Brandon Johnson stressed that the city will be prepared.
Chicago was plagued by crime over the weekend, with at least 11 people shot in the city, including the death of a man killed by police on Sunday (photo)
In preparation for protests ahead of the Democratic National Convention, businesses across the city have closed their doors to survive a potentially crime-ridden week
In the weekend of violence leading up to the start of the DNC on Tuesday, more than a dozen people were shot — including at least two officer-involved shootings with the Chicago Police Department.
The latest incident occurred shortly after midnight on Sunday in the Pilsen neighborhood, when Robbery Task Force officers rushed to a residential street after hearing multiple gunshots.
Upon arrival, officers shot an armed assailant, who later died in hospital. Two victims were found with gunshot wounds in a vehicle near where officers heard the shots.
It came just over a day after an officer also shot at a vehicle wanted in connection with a murder, with Chicago police already busy dealing with violence in the city.
Hours after the officer-involved shooting, a 28-year-old man was shot and killed in the Bronzeville neighborhood when an unknown gunman opened fire on the man as he walked on the sidewalk and he ran away.
Officers were seen at the scene of a daytime shooting in Chicago on Saturday afternoon, treating one of at least 11 shooting victims who would be shot over the weekend – 3 fatally
Officers were stationed on a residential street in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood Saturday night, where a 28-year-old man was shot dead
A man was shot Sunday morning near the United Center stadium where the DNC is being held after he was shot by another motorist when they collided
And just outside the United Center stadium in Chicago, where Kamala Harris will formally accept the Democratic nomination for president, a man was in critical condition after being shot by the event venue on Sunday morning.
That came after he was injured in a crash on the north side of the stadium, in which the driver of the car he collided with shot his car multiple times.
The weekend of bloody violence was hardly a surprise for Chicago. According to police, 33 people were shot the weekend before.
Despite the city being plagued by crime, city officials have approved at least seven major demonstrations, expected to focus on the war between Israel and Hamas.
Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chairman of the American Palestinian Community Network, which is organizing the protests, said the group remains unhappy with Kamala Harris’s position on the conflict.
“Harris represents the administration; she represents Biden,” he said. “We’re not going to do anything different. We’re going to mobilize.”
He added to the Washington Post: “Our target is the Democratic Party and the leadership of the party, and ‘Killer Kamala’ is one of them.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insisted his city is ready to host the DNC, but conceded: “Are there people who want to disrupt the beauty of Chicago? Of course there are.”
As tensions mount ahead of the convention, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who will speak at the DNC, stressed that his city can handle the protests.
“There’s a reason Time Out magazine named Chicago the best city for conventions, because we’re good at it,” he said at a news conference on Friday.
“Are there people who want to disrupt the beauty of Chicago? Of course there are.”
The city allowed the planned protests to take place amid mounting pressure from First Amendment rights groups. The FBI said it was “not aware of any specific and apparent threats regarding the DNC.”