When riots exploded in Chicago overnight, looters were apparently ready.
“Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers,” The Chicago Tribune reported.
“The looting began shortly after midnight as people darted through broken store windows and doors along Michigan Avenue carrying shopping bags full of merchandise. Cars dropped off more people as the crowd grew. At least one U-Haul van was seen pulling up,” The Tribune wrote.
A U-Haul.
Meanwhile, CBS-Chicago reported that the mayhem was “coordinated.”
“In what appears to be a widespread, coordinated attack, dozens of stores, banks and other businesses were broken into across downtown Chicago overnight. The looting spread from the Loop, up to the Near North Side,” the station reported.
In a coordinated response to a police shooting in Englewood on Sunday, scores of stores were looted in the city overnight, leaving widespread destruction and injuring about a dozen officers, Police Supt. David Brown said. …
Brown said 400 officers were dispatched to the Loop as caravans of cars began driving into the city. CBS 2’s Chris Tye reported looters arrived with boxes of rocks and bricks to break into stores. However, police could not keep up with the speed and size of the crowds.
“What we are seeing is violence against police,” Brown said. Thirteen officers were injured in the violence overnight, including one with a broken nose. He said nine officers have been shot at in recent days. “This was an act of violence against our police officers and our city,” Brown said.
Dozens of first-person videos showed up on social media showing looting.
Looters broke into a Chicago mall and are looting the place clean tonight. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/wKJZbcvpoZ
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 10, 2020
8/9/20 Chicago Credit: Taeshia Rochon pic.twitter.com/k3CVF8x2Tp
— Liz Jones (@LizJone26271417) August 10, 2020
BLM rioters loot a @Walgreens in Chicago tonight. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/Q1upzid1MF
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 10, 2020
Rioters and looters rampaged through Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district early Monday, sparked by a shooting by a police officer hours earlier that left a young man wounded.
Social media exploded with videos showing hundreds of people looting stores such as Apple, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Best Buy, Coach, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. In some videos, gunfire can be heard.
“Absolute chaos in downtown Chicago with more overnight looting and vandalism in the Loop,” tweeted Ryan Baker, an anchor for WBBM-TV. “Appears to be coordinated effort with minimal police presence.”
The rioting and looting began Sunday afternoon after police chased an allegedly armed man who “turned and fired shots” at officers, Deputy Chief Delonda Tally told Fox 32 Chicago. Police then fired, injuring the man, she said. A crowd at the scene then clashed with police, throwing objects at officers. Authorities said someone spread a false rumor that police had shot and wounded a child.
Chicago officials raised bridges and shut down some train and bus service Monday morning after a night of rioting and looting caused widespread damage in the city’s downtown and along the Magnificent Mile shopping district, the local NBC affiliate reported.
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