As Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed on Twitter that she would prevent President Trump from sending in federal officers to bring order to her city, a funeral home in the South Side was shaken by a shooting that left at least 15 people wounded.
The Democrat mayor tweeted on Tuesday evening that she would âunder no circumstancesâ allow the president to deploy federal forces against organized, violent rioters attacking police and destroying property in Chicago.
Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trumpâs troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.
— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 21, 2020
In a newspaper interview, Lightfoot was less forceful, acknowledging that the city will receive assistance from federal agencies like the FBI, DEA, and ATF, but will resist the use of âunnamed agents.â
âWhat I understand at this point ⊠is the Trump administrationâs not going to foolishly deploy unnamed agents to the city of Chicago,â Lightfoot said. âAs I understand it, what we will be getting are some additional resources in the FBI, the DEA and the ATF.⊠What we will receive is resources that are going to plug into the existing federal agencies that we work with on a regular basis to help manage and suppress violent crime in our city.â
âWe do not welcome dictatorship,â the mayor continued. âAnd we do not welcome unconstitutional arrests and detainment of our residents. That is something I will not tolerate.â
She added that Chicago will ârush into courtâ if federal secret agents arrive. âAt least at this point, we donât see a Portland-style deployment coming to Chicago,â Lightfoot said. âNow, if that changes ⊠we will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal.â
Yet even as Lightfoot leveled her accusations against President Trump, 15 people were injured at a funeral home in the cityâs Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
According to police, a black car driving on 79th Street began firing at funeral attendees. People at the funeral reportedly fired back at the shooters.
ABC 7 reports: âThe number of shooters involved is not currently known, and it is not known if anyone in the vehicle was shot. Community activists in the neighborhood said they believe it was gang-related, and police confirmed the district commander had stationed a squad car outside the funeral.â
Lightfoot reacted to the news by saying that âToo many guns are on our streets and in the hands of people who should never possess them. These individuals will be held accountable.â
The mayorâs criticism of the Trump administration comes as the president has warned that he will send federal troops to cities âall run by liberal Democrats.â
âThese are anarchists, and the politicians out there â yes theyâre weak, but theyâre afraid of these people, theyâre actually afraid of these people â and thatâs why they say we donât want the federal government helping,â said President Trump.
Clashes between rioters and officers have been covered in places such as Portland, where the media often focuses on the injuries of so-called protesters while downplaying the violent, criminal actions of those attacking government buildings and law-enforcement officers.
Earlier this month, for instance, a dozen agitators in Portland were gathered outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse when one of them began trying to break down the door with a hammer. When an officer went outside to control the situation, the hammer-wielding individual struck one of the officers in the head before being detained.
In Lighfootâs own Chicago, police on Friday were ambushed by an organized mob embedded within a Black Lives Matter protest. Rioters threw various projectiles, such as frozen water bottles and fireworks, at law-enforcement officers. Forty-nine police were injured and several officers were admitted to area hospitals. One officer had his eye socket broken by a firework and may need surgery to see properly.
Footage from the scene showed that members of the mob even used sharpened PVC pipe that they had concealed as framework for a banner to stab at officers protecting a statue of Christopher Columbus.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown condemned the violence, saying, âWhat began as a peaceful protest at Grant Park Friday evening devolved into a very dangerous situation in which mob action deliberately sought to injure officers, provoke retaliation, and damage property.â
âThis cannot stand,â Brown declared. âWe cannot be a city that thinks mob action of a crowd is acceptable behavior.â
