It was a violent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, where as of last night, 63 individuals were shot, four of whom died.
NBC Chicago reports that though the number of murders decreased since last Memorial Day, the number of shootings increased.
“The police cannot stop the killings in the Chicagoland area, and it’s not their fault,” activist Tio Hardiman told NBC Chicago. “The community needs to organize in high numbers and work with these guys on street corners in an aggressive way.”
Yesterday morning, a police spokesperson said that the department was ramping up surveillance in designated areas in an attempt to curtail the violence.
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“As we’ve said before, it’s about 1,500 people that are driving the violence,” First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said. “Those are the people we’re trying to concentrate on.”
So far, more than 1,400 Chicagoans have been killed since January.