A Chicago felon who was being monitored electronically following charges of possessing a stolen firearm as a felon has now been charged with allegedly shooting five people over the weekend, two of whom died.
CWB Chicago reported that a 39-year-old man was holding a party in his backyard on Saturday when he ordered everyone to leave around 2 a.m. He then started shooting, hitting five people, killing two. One partygoer with a concealed carry permit fired back, critically injuring the original shooter, before he was killed.
“[Chicago Police Department] records show [the gunman] was arrested in April 2019 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm. He went home on electronic monitoring to await trial,” CWB Chicago reported.
“Every weekend, we can bring forth an example of a person out of jail that should be in jail,” CPD Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference on Monday.
As CWB reported, the gunman “has five previous felony convictions, including two for illegal gun possession.”
The latest incident comes at the same time that Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx claimed gun violence was increasing in the city, touting the city’s Gun Crimes Strategies Unit in a tweet on Monday.
“Our innovative Gun Crimes Strategies Unit puts prosecutors directly into police districts struggling with high rates of gun violence – where it’s decreasing at a higher rate than the city as a whole. These data-driven efforts show the reality of addressing both safety & reform,” Foxx tweeted while linking to a tweet from the State’s Attorney’s Office that provided a study showing arrests are up in the districts with prosecutors. That study, from the University of Chicago Crime Lab analyzing CPD records, claimed that fatal and non-fatal shootings in the five districts with a GCSU prosecutor “decreased by 35% from 2016 to 2018, compared to 31% for districts without an embedded prosecutor.”
Rafael Mangual, a senior fellow in criminal justice at the Manhattan Institute, however, pointed out CPD statistics show “*both* homicides *and* shooting incidents are each up 52% YTD through 9/6. In terms of districts, *both* murders *and* shootings are up in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, and 25th.”
GCSU prosecutors were placed in the 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, and 15th districts.
CWB Chicago also provided more examples of people returning to the streets thanks to Chicago’s affordable bail initiative only to commit violent crimes:
On February 16, prosecutors charged 18-year-old Dimitris Horns with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possessing a gun with a defaced serial number after he allegedly ditched a handgun while running from police.
Judge David Navarro allowed Horns to go onto electronic monitoring by posting a $500 deposit bond, according to court records.
Then, on July 8, Horns repeatedly pistol-whipped a man and shot him in the leg during a robbery that netted Horns $130, according to allegations made in court.
Prosecutors charged him with aggravated discharge of a firearm, discharging a firearm causing bodily harm during a robbery, and other felonies. He was also charged with escaping electronic monitoring and held on a warrant for reckless discharge of a firearm as a juvenile, according to court records.
Horns’ case does not qualify for Foxx’s “repeat offender” tally because the second alleged crime occurred after June 30, the deadline for qualifying as a “reoffender” under her scenario.