Residents in Chicago are furious over the death of a five-month-old newborn amid a crime-filled weekend in the Windy City.
Cecilia Thomas, the newborn child, was in a car with her father when she was shot in the head in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood on Friday night. Thomas was killed in a drive-by shooting by an unnamed woman who opened fire on the family's car, according to authorities. The newborn was taken to a nearby hospital and died as a consequence of her injuries.
Latest Chicago Crime Sparks Outrage
A 41-year-old man in a second vehicle was also injured in the incident and suffered a gunshot wound to the eye. He was described as being in good health. The gunman fled the scene, and authorities have no suspects in custody at this time.
Meanwhile, outraged residents are pleading with authorities to act after at least 20 people were shot over the weekend in the city. Chicago was voted the 28th deadliest city in America earlier this year, with a murder rate of 18.26 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Per ABC7 Chicago, at around 6:45 pm, Thomas' father was driving home on Friday when a shooting erupted in the 7700 block of South Shore Drive. According to a witness, the concerned father pulled over at the intersection of 71st Street and Crandon Avenue when Thomas began crying.
He called for assistance and Thomas was brought to Comer Children's Hospital, where she subsequently died. According to the medical examiner's office, she died from a gunshot wound to the head. While physicians fought to save the infant's life, at least a dozen of her family members gathered outside the hospital.
The baby's mother was sad and distressed, according to crisis responder Andrew Holmes, who then called out the gunman, saying, "I pray you don't have any children yourself. Because if you do, you won't be able to sleep at night; instead, you should turn yourself here knowing you have to stare at your child every night. And you took this lady's kid."
Jackie, a nurse in the hospital when EMS arrived, described the situation as "shocked." The nurse reportedly shared that two of her children were killed by gunshots and that a third was disabled after being shot at a party.
Activist Ja'Mal Green, who recently ran for mayor of Chicago, pledged a $5,000 prize for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the incident, as per New York Daily News.
Chicago Crimes Surge
Meanwhile, violent crime in Chicago continues to be on the rise, particularly before the outbreak--less than a year after mayor Lori Lightfoot took office in May 2019.
According to the most recent Chicago Police Department figures, murders have increased by a stunning 23 percent since 2019--before the epidemic prompted an inflow of criminality to afflict the city's streets--with 282 homicides documented since the beginning of the year, compared to 230 in 2019.
Murders have also increased since June 2020, during the peak of the pandemic lockdown, when 291 people were murdered. Violent attacks are also on the rise, with 2,553 occurrences of aggravated violence registered so far this year. The city had 2,516 instances in June 2021.
Sexual assaults and rapes have decreased this year, with the city logging nine fewer instances than this time last year. Small crimes like theft have also increased by a startling 65 percent since last year, from 4,712 to 7,770 occurrences.
Meanwhile, gun violence, probably the city's most important and prevalent issue, has decreased marginally, from 1,381 shootings last year to 1,148 so far in 2022. When compared to shootings in 2019, before the city's enormous crime wave, the rate of gun violence has climbed astronomically by a troubling 44 percent, Daily Mail reported.
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