Boy, 9, among nine killed during bloody Chicago weekend

Nine people including a nine-year-old boy were killed in Chicago this weekend and 25 were wounded, as the bloody summer in U.S. cities continues. 

Chicago police announced on Monday that a person has been arrested in connection with the boy’s murder. 

A Wall Street Journal analysis of crime statistics among the nation’s 50 largest cities found that reported homicides were up 24 per cent so far this year, to 3,612, with Chicago – the worst-hit – accounting for more than one of every eight homicides.

The month of July saw a 139 per cent jump in murders in Chicago, compared to the same month last year.

From January 1 through the end of July, there were 440 homicides in Chicago and 2,240 people were shot – a number that includes those killed. 

That compares to 290 homicides and 1,480 shootings in Chicago in the same period last year.

Nine-year-old Janari Ricks, who loved basketball, was shot and killed on Friday night in a park

President Donald Trump recently announced he was sending federal agents to cities including Chicago, as part of what he calls Operation Legend to help local authorities fight such crime. 

The 150 agents in Chicago will mostly focus on assisting police with gun, drug and gang cases, according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

She promised that the troops would not use controversial tactics deployed in Portland, Oregon – where protesters were snatched from the streets.   

Janari died in the Cabrini Green district

Janari died in the Cabrini Green district

The weekend’s first reported shooting left a nine-year-old boy dead in the Cabrini Green neighborhood on the Near North Side, Chicago police said.

Police said a gunman approached Janari Andre Ricks and several other people outside and opened fire in their direction at around 6pm on Friday, in the 900-block of North Cambridge Avenue. 

Police said the boy was playing in a parking lot not far from his home at the time of the shooting.

Janari was struck multiple times, including in the chest. The first responding officers performed CPR until the Chicago Fire Department arrived. 

He was then taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

‘It’s just crazy. My boy, he’s gone; that was my inspiration, that was my truth,’ said his father, Raymond Ricks. 

‘He wanted to play basketball. He was just a basketball fanatic.’

On Monday the superintendent of Chicago police said a suspect has been arrested, and police hope to secure charges against him in the coming days. 

The unnamed man did not live in the Cabrini Green neighborhood, and nor did his intended target, police said. 

‘He was shot and killed while doing what every child in our city should be able to do without a second thought,’ Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference. 

‘He was playing with friends on a warm summer evening just outside his front door.’

Before an arrest was made, community activist Andrew Holmes had urged the shooter to turn himself in and a $4,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of the gunman.

‘I’m reaching out to his mother, his father, his family. Turn your loved one in because, guess what, this king is gone. This baby is gone,’ Holmes said.

Brian McDermott, Chicago Police Department (CPD) chief of operations said the boy ‘was an unintended target, and we don’t know who the intended target was.’

Janari was an unintended victim in Friday's shooting, police said

Janari was an unintended victim in Friday’s shooting, police said

Also among those to die this weekend was a well-known student leader with a youth activist group that has been prominent in the push to remove police from Chicago Public Schools.

He died on Sunday morning after he was shot two days earlier in the West Rogers Park neighborhood. 

Caleb Reed, 17, was described by his local alderman as ‘a light in our community’.

Reed died on Sunday morning, after being found lying on a sidewalk about 1pm on Friday in the 1900 block of West Granville Avenue. 

Caleb Reed, 17, was shot on Friday at 1pm and taken to hospital, where he died Sunday

Caleb Reed, 17, was shot on Friday at 1pm and taken to hospital, where he died Sunday

Reed was well-known among activists in Chicago and described as 'a light in our community'

Reed was well-known among activists in Chicago and described as ‘a light in our community’

He had been shot in the head and was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead on Sunday at 6:40am. 

Tributes were paid to Reed as 'a brother, a community organizer, and a neighbor'

Tributes were paid to Reed as ‘a brother, a community organizer, and a neighbor’

Reed was a student leader with the group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), which has been one of several student groups advocating for the removal of officers from CPS.

Alderman Andre Vasquez described Reed as ‘a light in our community’.

‘Caleb was a son, a brother, a community organizer, and a neighbor,’ he said.

‘His light and potential have been extinguished at the hands of gun violence, like so many others in Chicago.

‘As a city we need to address the root causes of this violence, which is the segregation and disinvestment in the communities that need it the most for generations now.’

Reed spoke at a rally in June alongside other activists to protest the contract between CPS and CPD, which the school board then narrowly voted to keep intact.

‘My sophomore year of high school I was arrested for attending a basketball game because I didn’t have my ID,’ Reed said, at the rally outside City Hall. 

‘I sat in a police station for six hours. I knew it wasn’t right at all, but inside I was angry, confused.

‘One thing I’m here to say is I’m proud to be a black young man. 

‘It’s not a good feeling to be labeled as dangerous or criminals. Because we’re not.

‘No black person should ever feel like this.’

The Ricks family have offered a reward to find the killer of Janari, who died on Friday night

The Ricks family have offered a reward to find the killer of Janari, who died on Friday night

From January 1 through the end of July, there were 440 homicides in Chicago

From January 1 through the end of July, there were 440 homicides in Chicago

Eight others besides Ricks and the boy died in gun violence over the weekend, between 5pm on Friday and 5am on Monday morning.

The final victim of the bloody weekend was pronounced dead on Sunday afternoon.

That victim, a 38-year-old man, died in a drive-by shooting in the Englewood district, on the South Side of the city. 

Earlier that morning two 28-year-old men were found dead after a shooting in Lawndale on the West Side. 

Demarcus Wiggins, 23, was found with gunshot wounds 6am Sunday in the South Shore area

Nautica Thompson, 23, died shortly after midnight on Saturday night at a party in Austin

Demarcus Wiggins, 23, (left) was found with gunshot wounds 6am Sunday in the South Shore area. Nautica Thompson, 23, (right) died shortly after midnight on Saturday night at a party in Austin

Demarcus Wiggins, 23, was found with gunshot wounds to his chest and leg shortly before 6am on Sunday in the South Shore area. 

Aaron Brown, 26, was fatally shot at a house in Washington Park on the South Side Friday night

Aaron Brown, 26, was fatally shot at a house in Washington Park on the South Side Friday night

Less than half an hour earlier, Juan Cervantes Sierra, 44, was found shot in the neck in Chicago Lawn on the South Side. 

A woman was found shot to death at 2:40am in West Garfield Park.  

Nautica Thompson, 23, died shortly after midnight on Saturday night at a party in the Austin neighborhood. 

The second to die, after Ricks, was 26-year-old Aaron Brown, fatally shot at a house in Washington Park on the South Side. 

Chicago is not the only city reeling from an increase in shootings.

On Saturday night New York City suffered its 777th shooting, taking the total past the 2019 tally for the whole year.

Reasons for the surge in violence are varied.  

Institutions that keep city communities safe have been destabilized by lockdown and protests against police. 

Lockdowns and recession mean that tensions are running high, and streets have been emptied of eyes and ears.

Some attribute the rise to an increase in gang violence; others said that anti-police sentiment contributed to the bloodshed.   

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