Over 60 people were shot and 11 people were killed in Chicago during the second weekend of July, according to a local CBS affiliate.
Out of the 11 people killed, five were under the age of 18, according to CBS 2. The shootings continued a violent trend in Chicago, which recently experienced its most violent weekend of the year over Father’s day weekend. 102 people were shot during that weekend, with 14 people killed. Chicago also experienced its deadliest Memorial Day weekend in years earlier this year when 9 people were killed and 27 were wounded. (RELATED: 1-Year-Old Among 18 Dead, 47 Wounded During One Weekend Of Chicago Shootings)
Chicago police prevent demonstrators from reaching the private residence of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker on July 10, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Chicago is one of several major U.S. cities that has seen a rapid increase in violence amid calls to defund the police. New York City suffered through its most violent June in over two decades as shootings increased by 205% compared to 2019. A 1-year-old baby was shot and killed in the city during a cookout this past weekend, according to police. The city of New York passed a budget earlier in July which stripped the New York Police Department (NYPD) of over $1 billion in funding in a plan supported by Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Says Defunding The Police Will Require ‘Experimentation’ With Public Safety)
Other cities to make significant cuts to their police force include Los Angeles and Minneapolis, whose city council voted unanimously to defund its police department after four local police officers were arrested and charged with the killing of George Floyd. Police unions in New York and Los Angeles recently blasted large cuts to police departments, saying the moves increase the risk to public safety.
“The whole defund movement itself is a scam,” Vincent Vallelong, vice president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “They’re not concerned about the general public. They’re not concerned about the people that actually pay the taxes.”
Earlier in July, 179 NYPD officers filed for retirement, more than a 400% increase from 2019.