A violent Labor Day weekend in Chicago saw at least 54 people shot, seven of them fatally. The surge in violence comes amid a tense political standoff between Mayor Brandon Johnson and President Donald Trump over how to address the city’s crime.
According to police, the shootings occurred in a series of unrelated incidents, with few arrests made. The identities of the deceased have not yet been released by authorities.
In response to President Trump’s suggestion of deploying the National Guard or other federal law enforcement to the city, Mayor Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday to block any such intervention. The order prohibits Chicago police from cooperating with federal agents on patrols, arrests, or other law enforcement actions.
“This executive order makes it emphatically clear that this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department,” Johnson stated at a news conference. “We will protect our Constitution, we will protect our city, and we will protect our people.”
He added, “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart.”
The White House criticized the mayor’s move, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson calling it a “publicity stunt” in a statement. “If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer,” the statement read.
The Labor Day violence follows a pattern of deadly holiday weekends in the city this year. Over the July 4th weekend, 55 people were shot, with six fatalities, while Memorial Day weekend saw 22 people shot, two of whom died.
According to official city data, Chicago has recorded 272 homicides so far this year, 225 of which were from fatal shootings.
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