Over 100 People Shot in Chicago for Fourth of July

The Chicago Police Department has reported that 102 people were shot and 14 killed between Friday June 30th and Wednesday July 4th with most of the shootings occurring within the last 12 hours of the holiday weekend. Police are conducting a comprehensive investigation to see what went wrong, and to make sure that this does not happen again. 

Police spokesperson Anthony Gugliemi expressed the department’s frustration at not being able to thwart the attacks citing systems that had worked well for the Memorial Day Festivities but failed during the Fourth of July celebration. 

Police have been relying on StopSpotter which is designed to detect gun shots and may have been thrown off by several poorly made, illegal fireworks. Guglielmi also reported that the Chicago Police faced a short number of incidents in a short time and that at least some of the shootings were related to intoxication and gun abuse. 

Police blame the underlying culture of irresponsible firearm abuse, officers seized over 159 guns over the weekend, rather than a lack of resources.