Supt. McCarthy Renews Call To Get Guns Off The Streets
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After another violent weekend in the city, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy renewed his call for getting guns off the streets.
WBBM;s Veronica Carter reports McCarthy talked about recent violence in the city, saying it's more painful than usual because children are falling victim to it.
A 13-year-old boy was one of seven young people shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood Friday night. Also that same evening a three year old was shot in the stomach on the Southwest Side.
"As a result of guns again being introduced into what otherwise would be a fistfight, we have seven kids shot and one of them dead," McCarthy said.
McCarthy says his department has been making improvements, but the guns have to be taken away from criminals.
"Without something done about these guns, don't expect what I'll call success," McCarthy said. "We can make progress, we can keep lowering the murder rate but we are going to have tragedies with kids getting shot."
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports McCarthy wants much stiffer sentences for illegal gun possession. As it is, he says, too many gun offenders get a slap on the wrist and wind up back on the streets, shooting someone else. McCarthy says if gangs were throwing rocks instead of shooting each other we wouldn't have this problem.