Large Groups of Teens Erupt in Four Days of Violence Days after Democrats Choose Chicago for 2024 Convention

@thehangrylilbrunette / LOCAL NEWS X /TMX
Warner Todd Huston
@thehangrylilbrunette / LOCAL NEWS X /TMX

For a fourth night in a row, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) was forced to call for reinforcements downtown as large numbers of teens gathered and engaged in rioting, violence, and even a Saturday night shooting.

The carousing began Wednesday night, only days after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chose Chicago for the site of its 2024 National Presidential Convention despite that the city suffers one of the nation’s highest murder rates.

The CPD was first called out in force at around 10 p.m. Wednesday night when about 200 teens erupted in a mass fight in the city’s popular Millennium Park at the southern end of the “Mag Mile.” The Wednesday night incident became the city’s first “large group” incident of the year, according to Chicago’s CBS affiliate.

The youths were reportedly fighting and harassing other people at the park, according to reports.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 27: US Vice President Joe Biden waves to the crowd as he arrives on stage to deliver remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Then-Vice President Joe Biden waves to the crowd as he arrives on stage to deliver remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

The crowds of unruly teens, though, were back for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, as police struggled to head off violence.

Video of the gangs of teens jumping on top of mass transit buses and rushing through the streets of Chicago on Friday appeared on Twitter. The video also showed CPD officers desperately trying to corral the gangs of kids.

A video posted by Chicago’s ABC7 showed teen pouncing on top of random cars in the street:

Fox Chicago reported that the roving gangs of teens were also seen bashing in car windows, and after shots were fired, they noted that they pulled their news crews off the street due to safety fears.

Indeed, NBC 5 Chicago reported that two teens were wounded in the Loop on Saturday as hundreds of teens once again flooded the downtown area and engaged in spasms of violence.

The victims, two boys, 16 and 17 years old, were reportedly hit by bullets while standing among the crowd when an unknown assailant fired the shots. It is not known if the shots were fired during a fight nearby or if it was just random, senseless shooting.

The four nights of violence comes only three days after Chicago was chosen as the site for the DNC’s 2024 convention and only ten days after the city elected a radical, soft-on-crime, defund the police, “progressive” to the mayor’s office.

Late last week, ahead of being sworn in as the Windy City’s next mayor, Brandon Johnson absurdly claimed that blame for the city’s rising crime rate could be laid at the feet of businesses because, in his estimation, “70 percent don’t pay corporate taxes.”

FILE - Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson participates in a public safety forum in Chicago, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. How best to manage Chicago’s financial challenges is among the many issues separating candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas heading into the April 4 runoff for mayor. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File)

Then-Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson participates in a public safety forum in Chicago, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)

The former union organizer blasted the state’s struggling businesses saying that “70 percent of large corporations in the state of Illinois don’t pay a corporate tax,” and added. “It’s that type of restraint on our budget that has caused the type of disinvestment that has led to poverty, of course that has led to violence.”

The self-professed “progressive” did not reveal his source for the 70 percent claim.

Even as the violence continues to spin out of control in the downtown Loop area, Johnson disgorged mere platitudes about the unrest during a Friday visit to Jesse Jackson’s Operation Push headquarters.

“My heart breaks for the families, which should never have to suffer the pain of a child being shot or lost to gun violence in our city. As a father, what I want for my own children is what I want for every child in Chicago. Their safety, and their healing from trauma, will be a priority of my administration from day one and beyond,” Johnson said in a statement on the recent violence.

“But we will not just protect our children — we will love them, and nurture them, and give every one of them the hope and purpose they deserve,” he concluded.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston

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