CHICAGO, KOMPAS.com - Looters in Chicago vandalized several local businesses in the downtown area early Monday following a police shooting on the city’s South Side.
Vandals smashed storefront windows and ran off with merchandise, cash machines, and anything else they could carry, according to police.
A shooting incident in Chicago happened on Sunday afternoon when a man opened fire on officers, stated Police Superintendent David Brown.
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The shooting prompted a social media post that urged people to form a car caravan and converge on the business and shopping district.
Some 400 additional officers were dispatched to the area after the department spotted the post. Over several hours, police made more than 100 arrests and 13 officers were injured, including one who was struck in the head with a bottle, Brown said.
Brown dismissed any suggestion that the chaos was part of an organized protest of the shooting, calling it “pure criminality" that included occupants of a vehicle opening fire on police who were arresting a man they spotted carrying a cash register.
No officers were wounded by gunfire, but a security guard and a civilian were hospitalized in critical condition after being shot, and five guns were recovered, he said.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed that the melee had nothing to do with a protest. “This was straight-up felony criminal conduct,” she said. “This was an assault on our city.”