'Everyone is tired': Police and community groups call for additional resources after 2 mass shootings in Back of the Yards, Jackson Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some people living in the Back of the Yards neighborhood are asking for help after a mass shooting that killed one man and injured four others Tuesday.
It was the first of two mass shootings in a period of 24 hours. The other was in Jackson Park. As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported Wednesday, the CPD superintendent is blaming a gang leader.
Supt. David Brown is calling the violence Tuesday night, and violence spiking in the Back of the Yards neighborhood since April, a direct result of that gang leader's release -- and retaliation for the killing of that gang leader's brother.
But with all of this happening in the middle of a family neighborhood, the impact is much bigger.
Candles were seen on the sidewalk Wednesday in the middle of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, where police say rival gangs are behind the deadly mass shooting at 48th and Ada streets late in the afternoon Tuesday. Five were shot -- and one of them was killed.
Video shared with CBS 2 investigators caught it all. We blurred the actual shooting, but you can see a boy running and ducking gunfire -- and the impact of bullets hitting nearby homes.
The shooting left marks on a neighborhood already impacted by continued violence. These are marks groups like Shay Knox's Nonviolence Chicago are trying to heal.
"Everyone is tired. Even the young people are tired," Knox said.
Raised on the Southwest Side, she has a vested interest in making this neighborhood better and safer.
"Everyone on our team is credible messengers from the area," she said.
Knox is an outreach supervisor with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. They work with the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation. The groups work to help those impacted by violence.
"If a shooting happens, we immediately get to a scene within 10-15 minutes," she said.
They responded to this right away, and they're still responding -- offering services, help, mentoring, and a safe place for young people growing up around violence like this.
"There's not enough resources in the community," Knox said. "We definitely need more resources for the young people."
This is a message echoed by city leaders and Chicago Police, who note this shooting is part of an uptick in violence in the Deering (9th) police district.
Police Supt. Brown says the increase is directly related to gang conflict -- which continued when police showed up.
Men described by police as rival gang members were arrested at the Back of the Yards shooting scene and charged with resisting arrest and aggravated battery of a police officer for shoving and pushing officers. One officer was punched in the face.
"Not the community, not the crowds -- these were gangsters that fought the police," Brown said.
This again happened in the middle of a neighborhood where a boy dodged bullets minutes prior -- and a neighborhood other first responders say needs more help right now.
"Nobody wants to wake up and have to come outside and look over their shoulders in fear all the time," Knox said.
Brown Wednesday called for something that he has called for many times support from the judicial system.
He talked a lot about gang leader 28-year-old Sergio Barron, released from federal prison then arrested with a weapon and released on cash bail.
Brown calls for judges to have better risk assessment, and says police are doing their jobs, but the cycle of violence continues when people like Barron are released.
