Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson held a press conference after a record number of people were shot over the weekend in the city.
“Unfortunately over the past 72 hours in Chicago, we saw a despicable level of violence with 52 shot and 10 killed,” Johnson said Monday morning. “Weekends like this remind us all of the challenges that we face, and that they are complex and profound.”
“Beginning Friday night, we saw an uptick in shootings and determined that evening that there were multiple gang related attacks concentrated primarily on the west side of the city,” Johnson added.
Johnson said he had increased the number of patrols to counteract the increase in violence.
Despite the spike in crime this weekend, murders in Chicago have gone down in the past couple years with 200 fewer murders in 2018 in comparison to 2016.
In March, Johnson fumed after city prosecutors dropped charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
“Do I think justice was served? No. What do I think justice is? I think this city is still owed an apology,” he said.
Johnson said false crime claims like Smollet’s hurt legitimate victims.
