(Newswire.net— September 2, 2020) — With 55 people shot, 10 of them fatally, over last weekend alone, Chicago is one of the most violent cities in the USA.
Nearly three dozen street gangs may have struck an agreement to shoot any officer seen with their gun drawn in public according to a local news report citing an alert to Chicago police that was allegedly issued by the FBI, ABC’s Eyewitness News reports.
A “situational information report” to Chicago law enforcement, state the possibility of a multi-gang pact to shoot officers “on-sight,” if they pull out their guns. It is not clear if taser guns are considered as well.
“Members of these gang factions have been actively searching for, and filming, police officers in the performance of their official duties,” the FBI warned. According to the alert, the purpose of filming police officers is to catch on film an officer drawing his/her weapon on any subject which would automatically make him/her a target.
The reports say that the gang alliance allegedly includes some of the worst gangs such as the Latin Kings and the Vice Lords, as well as more obscure gangs, including the Almighty Black P.
The report also said that the multi-gang agreement includes the notorious Stone Nation and its Islamist break off faction, known as El Rukn (Arabic for “the pillar”). All of them belong to a pre-existing gang alliance, the People Nation.
The superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), David Brown, said officers are currently facing a “sense of lawlessness” in the city. “I think it’s bigger than a suggestion,” said Brown, who declined to comment on the FBI alert directly. According to Brown, the warning is just a heads up rather than direct confirmation that police officers become targets of multiple-gangs.
The alleged FBI document noted the alert was sourced from “a contact whose reporting is limited and whose reliability can’t be determined.”
The grim statistics, however, show 51 officers being shot at or shot in one year, which implies that the document is more than just an alert suggestion.
According to a separate statement provided by the ABC affiliate in Chicago, the CPD said it was aware of the threat posed by street gangs and that it takes all threats against police officers seriously.
With 55 people shot, 10 of them fatally, over the last weekend alone, Chicago is one of the most violent cities in the USA. The surge in shootings also comes amid a wave of demonstrations and unrest over recent police shootings, namely that of George Floyd in Minnesota and Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, which in Chicago have frequently escalated to riots, looting, and vandalism.