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The shooting also draws attention to the River North neighborhood that has seen an increase in shootings and murders even as similar violence has declined state-wide.
Cell phone video obtained by WGN Investigates showed the chaos and carnage in the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed four people and injured 14 others. Bodies were seen on the street and those who were shot were observed being loaded into waiting ambulances.
The shooting happened just hours after Mayor Brandon Johnson declared he was bringing down violent crime in Chicago and just days after he celebrated turning the tide.
Police data shows murders for the first half of the year are down 32% citywide from the same time last year. Murders are also at their lowest level in a decade, while shootings are also down significantly.
“I believe things are trending in the right direction. Last night was terrible, terrible, terrible thing that occurred, but we’re going to continue to fight to keep these things down,” Chicago Police Department Supt. Larry Snelling said.
However, in the police district that includes the city’s River North neighborhood, progress has been slower.
Data shows even before the mass shooting, there were more murders in the district than last year and shootings hadn’t declined.
Snelling said they’re analyzing River North crime patterns, along with trends and motives.
“We have to do a little more research. We’re halfway through the year to determine what those factors are. We are working very hard to keep crime down throughout the city,” Snelling said.
Nightclubs and bars have been a frequent epicenter of violence in River North. In 2022, the city shut down Hush bar after four people were shot.
New owners opened Artis Restaurant and Lounge in the same building. Wednesday night’s mass shooting happened right outside Artis.
“This tragedy that we are working through today, this does not define us as a city,” Johnson said.
WGN Investigates dug into the data and found there have been 39 reports filed of assaults, batteries and thefts on that single block in River North over the past year. Murder and attempted murder are now part of that list.
The scene of Thursday’s mass shooting appeared to grow volatile at one point. A Cook County Sheriff’s police officer used a taser on a combative man who then fell to the ground and was handcuffed.
“Amid an incredibly chaotic, crowded, and volatile scene, a Sheriff’s Police Officer deployed his Taser to gain control of an individual who ignored repeated orders to step back from the scene of a mass shooting,” sheriff’s spokesperson Anthony Gomez told WGN.
A standard use of force investigation is being conducted.
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