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Lawndale residents not cooperating after 2 mass shootings, police say
After two mass shootings on Wednesday, Chicago police say people in the community are refusing to talk.
CHICAGO - Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood is reeling after two mass shootings left 10 people shot and one dead.
Police say despite all the victims and witnesses, they are getting very little cooperation.
"We are in a battle for the heart and soul of some of our communities. And now is the time to speak up," Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said.
On Thursday, nubs of crime scene tape and surgical gloves littered the street on the West Side, and a heavy police presence was a reminder of Wednesday night’s blast of violence.
"It ain’t safe out here. You can’t even be in your own backyard," said Lawndale resident Yvonne Jones.
Jones was tending her community garden plot just across the street from where five people were shot, which is next door to an elementary school. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 22.
Just minutes earlier, and a few blocks to the east, five more people were shot at the corner of Cristiana and Douglas Boulevard. A 15-year-old boy was killed and a 16-year-old boy is hanging on to life.
But police say despite all of the victims and witnesses, nobody is talking.
"That signals to us when you don’t cooperate, when you’re silent, that you prefer street justice," Brown said.
Lawndale residents say street justice is out of control, along with other social ills.
FOX 32 came across two men passed out on Douglas Boulevard apparently from heroin. Tiny drug bags littered the grass.
Lawndale resident Vivian Smith called 911.
"There’s two guys laying in the park. One’s not moving," she told police.
It’s sad. Because our neighborhood, they always say Black-on-Black crime. I don’t understand Black-on-Black killing each other. For what reason?" Smith told FOX 32.
If this doesn’t tell you how bad it is in Lawndale, there’s blood splatters all over the sidewalk by one of the shooting scenes. But also on the sidewalk, chalk drawings by children including a hopscotch.
However, you also find signs of hope. Pastor Floyd Smiley was grilling chicken and ribs behind his church for those in need.
"We fix the food, prepare it and carry out the trays. Anyone that wants to come by there, free to take it, free no charge," Smiley said.