Shipments of firearms aboard freight cars are being stolen intermittently in Chicago’s South Side, presumably by criminal gangs.
Associated Press (AP) described boxes of guns found inside freight trains as “a gangster’s jackpot,” noting that the thieves often expected to find other merchandise during their criminal operation. More recently, such criminal gangs have become more adept at targeting firearms shipments transported via rail.
Court filings in a federal case against seven persons in a 2015 theft of firearms from a Chicago rail yard indicate that one suspect exclaimed, “Oh man! These … are pretty!” The thieves claimed to rob freight cars “on a regular basis.” Chicago police subsequently recovered several of the stolen firearms during interactions with suspected criminals.
AP reported further on the 2015 heist: “The thieves belonged to two gangs and teamed up only after running into each other in the yard because they couldn’t whisk enough guns away alone. A railway worker discovered the theft at 7 a.m. after spotting broken locks and bolt cutters. Within hours, the gangs were selling the stolen weapons, valued at around $50,000 in all.”
On three “major gun thefts within three years” from Norfolk Southern rail yard in the Windy City, AP claimed the stolen weapons “helped fuel a wave of violence on Chicago’s streets.”
The Chicago Tribune reported on a theft of more than 100 guns from a rail yard in Chicago’s South Side in June of 2015. The weapons were en route from a Ruger factory in New Hampshire to Washington.
Chicago saw 762 homicides in 2016, and 415 homicides in 2015. Its population is 2.7 million. The most recent available annual report as of this article’s publication on the city’s police department’s website is from 2010:
Forty-nine of Chicago’s 50 aldermen are Democrats. Its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, is a Democrat who formerly served as chief of staff during the Obama administration.
Eddie Johnson, Chicago’s police superintendent, criticized President Donald Trump’s alleged non-response to his requests for federal help in combating crime in his city; he requested federal funds for “mentoring” and “job training.”
CHICAGO, IL – JANUARY 13: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel listens as Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks at a press conference called by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on January 13, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Lynch was in Chicago to announce the release of a report which cited widespread abuses by officers in the Chicago police department following a 13-month investigation. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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