The Chicago Sun-Tines pointed out 248 people were killed in Chicago January 1, 2023, through June 10, 2023.
On May 9, 2023, the NRA noted that 2,767 people had been killed in Chicago on Lightfoot’s watch.
The most violent year of Lightfoot’s tenure was 2021, which was the deadliest year Chicago has witnessed in a quarter of a century. The Hill reported that Chicago police confirmed 797 homicides during the course of 2021.
The Chicago Tribune indicates at least 170 people have been killed in Chicago so far this year.
8. CRIME: Because of the Democrat rule in blue cities, crime is not being prosecuted in the name of some weird kind of reparations. What the Democrats don't get is that they hurt their own innocent population by allowing criminals a get-out-jail-free card, and by not prosecuting at all. Their racist policies hurt the very people they claim to want to help. Why are they doing this? To deliberately create chaos in the execution of anti-white racism. The one solution to the rising crime rate, the prosecution and incarceration of criminals, is the one thing blue cities under Democrat rule will not do. Mayor Lightfoot makes weird and demonic home videos of herself dancing around in what appears to be a drugged stupor. Rather than be a responsible mayor, she has totally ignored the death-by-violence rate in Chicago. This is another very clear example of Democrats doing what they do best; destroying things.
At Least 32 Shot During Weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago
At least 32 people were shot, three of them fatally, during the weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s (D) Chicago.
ABC 7 / Chicago Sun-Times reported the first fatal shooting occurred Sunday around 1 a.m., when 27-year-old Santos Rodriguez was shot while in “the 3700-block of West Division Street.”
Rodriguez was taken to a hospital where he died.
At 8 a.m. Sunday, two men–a 25-year-old and a 30-year-old–were “in the 3100-block of West Redfield Drive” when someone shot them. The 25 year-old survived the incident but the 30-year-old was killed.
Around 6 p.m. Sunday a 20-year-old standing on the sidewalk “in the 1900-block of South St. Louis Avenue” was shot and killed. The gunmen opened fire from inside a passing vehicle.
Breitbart News noted four were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a Chicago funeral procession Saturday around 1 p.m.
The gunmen, who were in a white pickup truck, pulled up alongside the procession and opened fire, wounding two people in one vehicle and two people in another.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
Ex-Drug Dealer Whose Sentence Was Commuted by Barack Obama Accused in Chicago-Area Shooting
An ex-drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama (D) is now accused of being involved in an Illinois shooting.
Four Wounded When Gunmen Open Fire on Chicago Funeral Procession
Four people were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in a Chicago funeral procession Saturday about 1 p.m.
FOX News reported the police believe the shooting was “targeted” and that others in the procession were not in danger.
ABC 7 noted that a white pickup pulled up next to one of the cars in the procession and opened fire, wounding two passengers.
Two people in another vehicle were also wounded.
Lisa Peloquin lives near the location of the shooting and she said, “It’s so terrifying to think that people were shooting this close to my home, this close to my family, this close to our schools. As long as it’s very easy for people who are upset and have some sort of issue to get a gun, then people are going to try to solve issues in this way, and that’s awful. None of us want to live in a world like that.”
The Chicago Sun-Tines pointed out 248 people were killed in Chicago January 1, 2023, through June 10, 2023.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
Eight things that killed the Democrat Party
By M.B. Mathews
The old Democrat Party is gone. In its place is a radical Libertine Party, full of itself and full of radical sexual, cultural, and economic ideas that have all but killed their chances of ever getting legitimately elected again. The following five things are what I believe has murdered the Democrat Party in its sleep:
1. CRT: Critical Race Theory in all its permutations, regardless of its origins and history, has become the banner of anti-white racism, disguising itself as "anti-racism." Under its banner, white people are told they are worthless, toxic, hateful oppressors. Worse, companies are actually hiring people who promote this toxicity and schools are teaching students to hate white people. Now out in the open, anti-white racism has created a hate-filled atmosphere of constant tension and dissension, where the only thing that matters, first and foremost, is skin color. This can only be laid at the feet of Democrats.
2. TRANS WOMEN IN WOMEN'S SPORTS: The gross unfairness of allowing men into women's sports (no, I will not call them "women") is so blatant and outrageous, that proponents are seen not merely as insane, but malevolent. The destruction of women's sports is viewed by all rational people as evil in the name of wokeness.
3. CORRUPTION IN THE FBI: The malicious and ethics-free raid on Mar-a-Lago is viewed even by many Democrats and all Republicans as vicious political intimidation, with the goal of destroying any followers of Donald Trump. This began in earnest during the "Russia collusion" case and saw its culmination in midnight raids of innocent conservatives revealing a hateful, vengeful vigilantism on the part of the radical left. In the hope that supporters of Trump and other conservative candidates would drop out of politics in fear of similar reprisals, these Gestapo tactics have not only solidified Trump's support and the support of even moderately conservative candidates, but have shown the Left to be petty children in a deranged, red-haze temper tantrum.
4. COVID MASK AND VACCINE MANDATES: Certainly a show of power rather than anything prophylactic against COVID, blue states and leftist groups have revealed that they know the masks do not prevent COVID, but instead are a symbol of big-government Stasi tactics designed to subjugate the citizenry in order to prepare them for eventual control.
5. DRAG QUEENS IN THE SCHOOLS: Young children have been indoctrinated into sexual fetishism and perverse sexual behavior at the behest of school administrators and leftist parents who seem to see nothing morally wrong with gay men dressing up as women in highly sexually-suggestive costumery and behavior. Why they are doing this has become clear: They want to break down all parental control over children and indoctrinate them into pedophilia, perversity, and compliance. For most parents, this was a bustier too far.
6. THE ECONOMY: From the start in 2021 when Joe Biden killed the Keystone pipeline and halted all drilling and new permits, the economy began tanking. Gas prices, supply line problems, paying people not to work, profligate spending, and other avoidable problems has hit the average American smack dab in the wallet. No matter how much the Biden administration denies their role in inflation and no matter how many times Joe says the economy is "strong as hell," Americans watch their buying power dwindle. They want relief and it is clear they will not get it from the Democrat Party.
7. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: From day one, the borders were flung open by the Democrat Party to drug traffickers, murderers, and myriad other miscreants in the hope they would be new Democrat votes. As a result, crime is rampant, blue cities under Democrat rule are suffering and homelessness is on the rise, all the while Biden spokespeople are claiming the "border is closed." Squealing like stuck pigs, places like New York City which have reluctantly become home to Texas' illegals, have seen a marked inability to safely house the very illegals they claim to have wanted to live in their "sanctuary city."
8. CRIME: Because of the Democrat rule in blue cities, crime is not being prosecuted in the name of some weird kind of reparations. What the Democrats don't get is that they hurt their own innocent population by allowing criminals a get-out-jail-free card, and by not prosecuting at all. Their racist policies hurt the very people they claim to want to help. Why are they doing this? To deliberately create chaos in the execution of anti-white racism. The one solution to the rising crime rate, the prosecution and incarceration of criminals, is the one thing blue cities under Democrat rule will not do. Mayor Lightfoot makes weird and demonic home videos of herself dancing around in what appears to be a drugged stupor. Rather than be a responsible mayor, she has totally ignored the death-by-violence rate in Chicago. This is another very clear example of Democrats doing what they do best; destroying things.
Only certain Black lives matter to BLM
The very people who wanted to defund the police are now finding themselves defunded.
Why? Technically, the answer would be mismanagement of funds, but in part, it could be said that they weren’t living up to their name. People are starting to see beyond the name and realize that that not all black lives mattered, just the ones who were friends and family with the organization’s management.
In some regards, Black Lives Matter can be considered a grift because an organization that is supposed to reduce police violence against Black people and improve their lives has nothing substantial to show for the scores of millions of dollars donated. Life hasn’t gotten better for Black people, and not because police were shooting innocent Black people.
BLM’s ill-thought-out mission to defund, disband, and criminalize police reduced the number of officers on the street leading to an increase in crime. That crime has affected Blacks more than other racial groups because the places where crime has increased the most are the cities, which are predominantly liberal and Black. So, the very people BLM says it represents are suffering the most from its policies and positions.
Meanwhile, BLM pulled in plenty of cash because everyone wanted to be seen as a supporter. The problem is how the organization has spent that cash. It didn’t go to help Black people affected by violence or even try to find alternative ways to fight crime, which is devastating the Black community. It did go to pay founder Patrisse Cullors’ brother who was paid a total of $1.6 million for security services as the head of the security team at the $6 million Los Angeles mansion bought with charity donations to BLM.
“He is best known as a graffiti artist, with no background in security,” the Daily Mail reported. “Patrisse Cullors defended hiring him, saying registered security firms which hired former police officers could not be trusted, given the movement's opposition to police brutality.”
A sister of a board member was paid $1.1 million for “consulting.”
The organization has also purchased luxury properties in Los Angeles and Toronto totaling $12 million.
It was recently reported that “The group ran an $8.5 million deficit and saw the value of its investment accounts drop by nearly $10 million, with fundraising down 88% year-on-year.” Reports have also appeared that the organization is at risk of going bankrupt.
People can now see that BLM is more interested in themselves rather than Black people. Just a third of the money BLM has received has gone to charity. That means two-thirds has gone to things that won’t benefit the Black community.
In general, BLM has laudable goals, but words without actions are meaningless. BLM’s actions show a much different goal. They are enriching themselves while allowing the community that is supposed to matter to them suffer from rising crime and a reduced police presence.
It’s time to end the farce of BLM and send any future donations directly to neighborhood organizations that are actually working in the Black community and helping the people. That’s the best way to show Black Lives Matter.
Michael A. Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.
Photo credit: YouTube screebgrab (cropped)
Illinois To Grant $300k to Black Lives Matter Chapter Led by Convicted Felon
An Illinois Black Lives Matter chapter led by a convicted felon is set to receive $300,000 in taxpayer funds thanks to Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker.
Pritzker signed into law a $50.4 billion state budget bill on Wednesday that includes a $300,000 grant to Black Lives Matter Lake County, a charity led by black activist Clyde McLemore. A prominent figure in the Chicago metropolitan area with ties to Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, McLemore has a lengthy criminal rap sheet that includes convictions for felony aggravated battery. He currently faces a felony bail-jumping charge in Wisconsin stemming from a prior case in which he was charged with kicking down a door and threatening a police officer during the Kenosha riots in August 2020.
Republican members of the Illinois State Assembly railed against Pritzker for choosing not to block the grant with a line-item veto.
"No taxpayer dollars should ever go to Black Lives Matter. They’re clearly a Marxist organization," said Republican state Rep. Blaine Wilhour, the vice chairman of the Illinois Freedom Caucus. Pritzker "could absolutely have gone in there with a line-item veto. Apparently, he sees value in giving $300,000 to Black Lives Matter."
Illinois is set to enrich McLemore’s Black Lives Matter chapter as other groups in the movement flounder amid allegations of financial malfeasance. The national Black Lives Matter group filed tax returns in May showing it had doled out millions in lucrative contracts to friends and family of the movement’s co-founder Patrisse Cullors during its 2022 tax year. The year before, Black Lives Matter spent $12 million on luxury homes in Los Angeles and Toronto.
Wilhour lamented that Pritzker chose to fund the Black Lives Matter chapter while other state programs with a proven record of helping minorities are set to expire. For example, the Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which has awarded 40,000 scholarships to help minority children in Illinois attend private schools, is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2023.
"What program is helping minorities more?" Wilhour asked. "Is it these opportunity scholarships? Or is it these criminal scumbags and Black Lives Matter?"
McLemore said during a podcast Wednesday he founded Black Lives Matter Lake County in 2015 after meeting with Cullors, who he said was mostly preoccupied with issues related to "black transvestites and gay people and gay rights and stuff." McLemore said he hasn’t talked with Cullors since 2015, and he said his autonomous chapter never received any funds from the national Black Lives Matter group.
The activist stressed during a Thursday interview with the Washington Free Beacon that the $300,000 taxpayer grant his chapter is set to receive will go towards a host of programs it already runs in his community, including a narcotics anonymous program, a youth risk intervention program and a civil empowerment program to teach people about laws.
"This money does not come to Clyde McLemore," he said. "Matter of fact, I’m still driving a 2008 Camry. If I got $300,000, don’t you think I would have bought me a brand-new car?"
But this isn’t the first time Pritzker has tried to enrich McLemore’s Black Lives Matter chapter. The Democratic governor appropriated $300,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds to the group in the state’s fiscal year 2022 budget, but records show Illinois never cut them a check.
McLemore said the grant was canceled because of a February 2022 article in the Lake County Gazette that highlighted his lengthy criminal history.
"They was going to authorize it, and what happened was two Republicans came out with a newspaper and they stopped the grant," McLemore said.
Lake County, Illinois, court records show McLemore has been charged in over 100 traffic, misdemeanor, and felony cases since the mid-1990s. His rap sheet includes convictions of felony and misdemeanor battery.
"So, yeah I had some arguments with my baby mama," McLemore told the Free Beacon. "As you know in Illinois, first one call the police, the other get arrested. I got arrested 20 years ago. She’s been dead over 20 years. She died of a drug overdose."
McLemore was charged in February 2021 with felony battery against a law enforcement officer stemming from his involvement in the riots in Kenosha the year prior. Prior to being charged, McLemore had posted photos and videos on Facebook showing him kicking a door at the Kenosha Public Safety Building during the riots. He wrote that he "was mad enough to try to break the officer’s fingers."
A jury found McLemore not guilty of the charge in December, but found him guilty on a lesser misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Just a few days later he found himself back in court on a charge of felony bail jumping for allegedly failing to show up to court for another case.
McLemore told the Free Beacon he’s never missed a court date and claimed his attorney told him the bail jumping charge will soon be dropped.
Pritzker’s office did not return a request for comment.
Published under: Black Lives Matter , Crime , Illinois , J.B. Pritzker
ideo leaked of men firing machine guns up a Chicago street, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring others
Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, has become a nightmarish shooting gallery. Now, in video leaked to CWB Chicago, we see how much worse matters have become, with 2 machine gun-armed men caught on video firing at unseen targets, killing a child, and injuring at least 3 others.
To make matters much worse, when police arrived to investigate, a 16-year-old boy fired shots at the officers, thankfully missing them. He was arrested, and the state’s attorney’s office did its duty and charged him with 6 counts of attempted murder of peace officers. It is not specified if he is being charged as a juvenile or an adult.
The somewhat blurry video must be seen and heard to be believed.
Here is the CWB Chicago’s description of the action:
The video, provided to CWBChicago by a source, shows four people walking across a vacant lot in the 4200 block of South Wells around 8:20 p.m. on June As they near the Wells Street side of the lot, a minivan rolls down the street. They duck behind a shrub, then rush onto the sidewalk and begin firing up Wells Street at a crowd standing off-screen.
According to the video, which does not show anyone being injured, at least two of the gunmen’s weapons fired automatically, machine gun-style. The other two offenders also fired shots up the street.
Machine guns are already highly illegal for individuals to possess. The problem is not the absence of gun control laws, but the inability or unwillingness to enforce them and the societal breakdown that allows people to think of and use such horrific weapons on other humans.
Photo credit: video screengrab (cropped)
VIDEO: Men with Machine Guns Open Fire in Gun-Controlled Chicago
Video from Wednesday night shows men, at least two of whom were armed with machine guns, opening fire on innocents in gun-controlled Chicago.
CWB Chicago reported that the incident occurred in “the 4200 block of South Wells.”
Responding officers found four gunshot victims on the ground, one of which was a deceased 14-year-old boy named Pierre Johnson. The other wounded individuals were 19, 19, and 21-years old.
RELATED: DeSantis: In Chicago “You’re More Likely to Get Shot” Than Get a World-Class Education:
@GovRonDeSantis / TwitterWhen police arrived to investigate, a 16-year-old boy with a handgun opened fire on them. The boy was subsequently arrested and charged with “six counts of attempted murder of peace officers.”
The 16-year-old was also charged with allegedly firing at a vehicle in which officers were sitting and for possessing a gun while under the age of 21.
Brandon Johnson speaks during a press conference outside of City Hall on January 24, 2023, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Breitbart News reported that 42 people were shot Friday into Sunday morning in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s (D) Chicago.
Nearly 240 people have been killed in Chicago thus far in 2023.
WATCH: Hawkins: Chicago’s New Mayor Means “Same Song, Different Verse” on Gun Policy:
ahawkinsAWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010. and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
Chicago Mayor’s Neighbor Allegedly Beat a Woman to Death with a Bat
A Chicago daycare worker was charged with first degree murder after allegedly beating a woman with a baseball bat and dumping her body in the alley behind his home.
The medical examiner found that the victim sustained over 100 injuries to her face, head, and scalp, CWB reported. During the suspect, Ariel Smith’s, bail hearing on Tuesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord said the medical examiner had “never seen so many injuries on someone’s body.”
Smith is being held without bail.
Smith, 64, and the 41-year-old victim were previously acquainted and ran into each other on Friday, May 26, at 5:00 a.m at a Citgo gas station. The pair took a CTA bus to Smith’s home in the 5700 block of West Superior — right across the street from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s home.
The pair smoked crack, and the victim performed a sex act on Smith, according to McCord. The interaction allegedly turned violent when Smith accused the victim of stealing money from him and would not let her leave until she returned the money. He is accused of then beating her with a baseball bat, and stabbing her with a broken piece of pottery.
Smith allegedly wrapped the victim’s body in a comforter and dragged her out to the alley. Surveillance footage seems to show Smith trying to dump the body in the dumpster.
Neighbors discovered the body after returning from a pizza pickup.
Authorities secured a search warrant and allegedly found a bloody bat and a bloody shard of pottery. Police officers said Smith was covered with dried blood when he answered the door, and had an injured hand. He told the officers he injured it in a lawnmower accident.
Smith has no criminal background. He earned a degree in childhood development and worked at the same daycare for five years.
There have been 226 homicide victims in Chicago so far this year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. A quarter of them were killed in May alone.
Over Memorial Day weekend, eleven people were fatally shot.
According to Mayor Johnson these deaths are due to poverty.
“Poverty didn’t go away over the weekend,” Johnson told ABC News. “We understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you’re seeing the manifestation of that trauma.”
Chicago Sent 'Peacekeepers' To Stop Memorial Day Weekend Violence. It Didn't Go Well.
Police charged man wearing 'Peacekeepers' vest with violent attack during deadly weekend
Chicago's left-wing leaders prepared for the Memorial Day weekend's expected uptick in violence by deploying non-police "peacekeepers." The city went on to see its deadliest weekend in almost a decade—with one attack possibly being perpetrated by a "peacekeeper."
At least 11 people died in shootings across Chicago, while at least 46 others, including 2 toddlers, were injured. The death toll is the highest since 2015, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, with one murder occurring steps away from soft-on-crime Mayor Brandon Johnson's (D.) doorstep.
The news comes days after Johnson and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (D.) announced the creation of the Citywide Crisis Prevention and Response Unit, which deploys "peacekeepers" to "provide essential assistance in deescalation, conflict resolution, and crisis support across Chicago." Democratic politicians across the country, including far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), have prompted similar programs.
The Chicago program costs Illinois taxpayers $700,000, the Center Square reported.
While "peacekeepers" were tasked with quelling violence, at least one might have been more interested in committing crime than preventing it. According to prosecutors, Oscar Montes, 31, was one of several people who "pulled a man from a car and punched and kicked him on the ground," the Sun-Times reported. When police arrived at the scene, Montes was "trying to take off a neon vest that read 'peacekeepers.'"
The Sun-Times was unable to confirm whether Montes, who spent 12 years in prison on a firearm charge, was working for a peacekeeping agency or organization.
Johnson ran on a platform that touted having "health professionals, not police, respond to crisis calls." The mayor, a longtime union organizer, supported the Defund the Police movement in 2020, though during last year's election he backtracked on his support.
Update 1:40 p.m.: This piece has been corrected to say that this Memorial Day weekend was the deadliest in "almost a decade." It originally said "more than a decade."
A man who lives across the street from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors accused him of beating a woman to death with a baseball bat inside his home and dumping her body in the alley.
HOW ABOUT REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF BLACK CRIME???
When a degreed childcare worker/amateur musician is alleged to have smoked crack and engaged in the behavior described, it looks like a society spinning out of control, with widespread social rot.
Condolences to those who knew or loved the victim and hopes that the justice system functions smoothly and fairly for the suspect.
Crime hits home for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: Brutal murder across the street from his house
It’s no secret that crime is out of control in Chicago, with murder at the top of the list. But when a gruesome murder takes place across the street, it’s hard not to experience a shiver of dread or worse, even for those who see the police as a foe. Chicago’s newly elected Mayor Brandon Johnson, who ditched his previous “defund the police” rhetoric while running for office, just saw his very nice-looking, yet crime-ridden block on the southside of Chicago host a horrifyingly brutal crime at the hands of an alleged suspect with a spotless criminal record.
CWBChicago, the go-to source for crime news in the Windy City, has the details:
A man who lives across the street from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors accused him of beating a woman to death with a baseball bat inside his home and dumping her body in the alley.
Arnel Smith, 64, is charged with first-degree murder and concealing a homicidal death.
A medical examiner who handled the 41-year-old victim’s case said they had “never seen so many injuries on someone’s body,” Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord said during Smith’s bail hearing.
As this photo composite shows, it would be an easy baseball throw from the Mayor’s house to the crime scene:
(source)
There is no information on whether or not the mayor knows his neighbor, nor is there any information about a police presence guarding the mayor’s house. His predecessor Lori Lightfoot was heavily criticized for a labor-intensive 24-hour police presence on her block. Such a prominent display might have given the alleged perp second thoughts about carrying out an especially brutal crime, and attempting to hide it so crassly.
Smith met the woman once about a year ago, then happened to cross paths with her again at a Citgo gas station around 5 a.m. on Friday.
The two rode a CTA bus back to Smith’s home in the 5700 block of West Superior. There, they smoked crack and the woman performed a sex act, according to McCord.
Afterward, said McCord, Smith accused the woman of stealing money and would not let her leave until she paid him what he believed he was owed.
The altercation turned violent.
Smith beat the woman with a baseball bat and stabbed her with broken pottery until she died, McCord alleged.
After the murder, Smith allegedly smoked some more crack, wrapped the woman’s body in a comforter, and dragged her to an alley. Surveillance video showed him trying to place the body into a dumpster, but he was “physically unable” to complete the task, so he left her on the ground, McCord said.
One thing that sets this crime apart, other than the brutality, is that the suspect Smith would have appeared as a model citizen based on what was visible to police and others:
Smith has no criminal background and has been employed his entire life after earning a degree in childhood development, his lawyer said. He has worked for a child daycare center for the past five years. In his spare time, the lawyer said, he plays and sings in a blues and jazz band.
When a degreed childcare worker/amateur musician is alleged to have smoked crack and engaged in the behavior described, it looks like a society spinning out of control, with widespread social rot.
Condolences to those who knew or loved the victim and hopes that the justice system functions smoothly and fairly for the suspect.
CRIME IN AMERICA IS BLACK!
Police: Two 2-Year-Olds Shot Hours Apart in Chicago
Two 2-year-olds were wounded in separate shootings that occurred just hours apart in Chicago on Sunday evening, ABC 7/Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The Chicago Police Department confirmed that a 2-year-old girl found a gun, accidentally discharged it, and hit herself in the right hand after 6 p.m. in the 1500-block of West Jonquil Terrace in Rogers Park.
Police said the little girl was subsequently taken to Francis Hospital in Evanston and is in good condition, according to the report.
The second shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. in the 7900-block of South Hermitage Avenue in Gresham, police said. A two-year-old boy “was playing in a bedroom with a known male… when a gun was discharged,” the report states.
“He was struck in the hand and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was in fair condition,” according to the report, which cited police. “Benjamin Smith, 24, has been charged with child endangerment in connection with the Hermitage incident.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson gestures during his inaugural address after taking the oath of office as Chicago’s 57th mayor Monday, May 15, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Overall, 43 people were shot in Chicago, nine of them fatally, Friday into Monday morning during Brandon Johnson’s (D) first Memorial Day weekend as mayor, Breitbart News’ AWR Hawkins reported.
The Sun-Times homicide database shows 226 people were killed in Chicago January 1, 2023, through May 28, 2023.
RELATED: DeSantis: In Chicago “You’re More Likely To Get Shot” Than Get a World Class Education:
@GovRonDeSantis / Twitter
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