Top Cop: World Series Security Didn't 'Shortchange' Rest Of City On Bloody Weekend
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson defended the department and its officers on Monday, in the wake of the deadliest weekend of the year – with 17 people shot and killed, and dozens more wounded.
Speaking about the weekend's violence after a police cadet graduation at Navy Pier, Johnson pointed the finger at the state's gun laws, as he has many times before.
"It was a tough weekend, but that just goes back to what I've been saying all the time. Listen, until we start holding repeat gun offenders accountable for these crimes, we're going to keep seeing cycles of gun violence like this. The majority of these shootings this weekend were gang-related, we know that; but they just have no fear of the consequences of their actions," he said.
Johnson also said, although the Cubs hosted three World Series games at Wrigley Field on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, no manpower was diverted from the city's more violent neighborhoods to boost security in Wrigleyville.
"The communities that we typically see violence in, they didn't get shortchanged at all this weekend. We had adequate resources there. We had canceled days off, as well as 12-hour shifts over the entire weekend. So I'm confident that we had the resources out there," he said.
The superintendent said the majority of this weekend's shootings were gang-related, including in the case of 17-year-old twins who were shot and killed in Old Town. Johnson said the brothers were not in a gang, but the people they were standing with are documented gang members.
"The two brothers, as far as we can tell, they didn't have any documented gang affiliation, but the individuals they were with did. So it's possibly gang-related," he said.