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Chicago Faces Violent Easter Weekend

Eric Parra |
April 22, 2014 | 7:58 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Protests have erupted in Washington, D.C. (LaDawna Howard, Creative Commons)
Protests have erupted in Washington, D.C. (LaDawna Howard, Creative Commons)
Chicago, a city once recognized as having the highest count for violent crimes, has recently added more to their list with at least 45 people this past Easter weekend.

Mayor of the city, Rahm Emanuel, addressed the situation on Monday at a graduation ceremony for a class of Police Department recruits. In his address, he spoke about talking to the mother of a victim on Sunday night, and how she wanted the violence to stop. He said that the community needs to speak and stand up.

SEE ALSO: Chicago Gun Control Policies Ruled Unconstitutional

That Sunday night, a group of children were shot at in a drive-by shooting incident. An 11-year-old was shot in the neck while a 15-year-old sustained a gunshot wound in her arm. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital.

From Suntimes

“On Sunday afternoon, a shooting left two men dead in South Lawndale. About 1 p.m. Sunday, an orange Hummer blocked a Lincoln Navigator head-on at the corner of 28th Street and Sawyer Avenue, Chicago Police at the scene said. Two people with guns then stepped out of the Hummer and fired nearly a dozen bullets at the Navigator, right under a police “blue light” camera.

Juan Ocon, 32, was found in the Navigator with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. A second man, 19-year-old Timmy Bermudez, was shot in the chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 1:42 p.m., according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.”

The previous day, Saturday morning, two teens were found dead in an apartment  building over a an argument that allegedly played out through Facebook.

The mother of one of the victims, Camille Cochran, said “An argument led to this, that’s crazy. Now I don’t have my son no more.”

Read more detailed summaries of the shootings at the original article here.

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.



 

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