Sunday, June 26, 2011

Post-Pride Problems?

Last year, post-Pride Parade, the gangbangers took advantage of the diminished police presence and the confusion from the Montrose Harbor Rocks festivities to shoot some folks at Wilson and Broadway.

Fast forward to this year:  It's been loud in that area for the past hour or so, and now a lot of readers are reporting loud bangs, possibly gunshots, followed by a ton of police.  We heard the same thing, followed by screaming and sirens.  A reader says:  "I was out walking my dog a couple minutes ago and heard gunshots and sirens, and saw a group of very agitated kids running down Truman College driveway along Racine, and a neighbor friend riding on his bicycle told me he saw a much larger gathering minutes earlier."

Second verse, same as the first?

If you have details, please post them to the comments.  If you're thinking about heading to the area, our advice is to stay away until it gets sorted out.

Update:  A reader posted to our Facebook page that there was a shooting at Kenmore/Wilson.

Update 2:  A reader filming a street poet's performance caught the shooting scene on video, including someone running away from the scene really fast, possibly a suspect.  You can check it out on YouTube.  It all happens around the 3:48 point.  If you listen to the audio, definitely not safe around work or the kiddies.  The police have been made aware of this video.

21 comments:

  1. Police scanner radio had mention of report that shots were fired 4600 block of Kenmore.

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  2. I was riding my bike southbound down Broadway after coming from Rogers Park around 8:30 PM. There were giant clusters of people near the Wilson stop area on all sides of the street, just kinda standing around, loitering. Something in the air didn't feel right. It felt like a storm was brewing.

    Anyone know what time this stuff occurred?

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  3. I was out riding my bike around 7pm last night around Montrose and noticed the police had shut down access to the lakefront via car. There was a crushing amount of people out, and I'd even venture to say they were highly inebriated. There were so many people out that I was afraid that if I were to hit one, I'd get pushed off my bike and beaten 'mob style'.

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  4. Not sure if that particular young man was the shooter, but he sure fits the description of the gutless twerp that CPD was searching for.

    GBDs ... Can't stand 'em.

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  5. It was recorded between 9:45-10 pm last night.

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  6. I walked past there at that time. Why can't the police arrest them for indecent expose for those exposing there underwear? The ladies are dressed indecently as well. Public intoxication, of course, was everywhere. They need to shut down that Sheridan Park Liquor store that caters to the locals with all sorts of low cost malt beverages.

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  7. Folks....
    This is ONE TIME per year all sorts of people come out and dress up and it's just fun for most (except for those who drank themselves into a stupor, and most likely aren't feeling too good this morning) so give em all some slack, fer gods sake.

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  8. I do not understand why, if the police know there is a problem, they do not have more posted on Wilson...it is the same group of folks going to the same event at Montrose Harbor with the same results every year.. I would love our Watch Commander to promise us this lack of police will be rectified next year.. there is a BIG difference between policing a bunch of drunks at a parade vs. shootings a mile north.. priorities need to be realigned here..

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  9. Police can't arrest someone wearing only underwear (unless it's extremely teeny underwear) for indecent exposure because it doesn't fit the legal definition of indecent exposure unless we can see "the genitals, vulva, pubis, pubic hair, buttocks, perineum, anus, anal region, or pubic hair region of any person, or any portion of the breast at or below the upper edge of the areola thereof of any female person"...

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  10. Friday evening I went to the pride fest on halsted danced,drank,seen Crystal Waters,Ms. Foozie had a wonderful time an left.
    Sunday (for the reasons above) I didn't make to the parade. NOW, I said all that to say this, everyone celebrates pride in their own way. When I was younger I did almost the same thing, except we were at Belmont rocks during that time. Public intoxication? Ok dress scantly? Ok this is what young gays and lesbans do to celebrate their freedom. I also understand now that I'm older PRIDE is more than that alright? So in essence leave the young kids do their thing. It's once a year alright?
    What I have a BIG problem with is what does gay pride have to do with GANGBANGING? Nothing absolutly nothing. WE don't celebrate that. I want to know how they have the balls to come and INVADE or celebration with that S&@T!!!!! I'm sick of them moraly bankrupt idiots intrupting OUR good time!!!!! Mr. Cappleman? Do away with them!!!!!!!!

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  11. I didn't mind the dressing scantily (which generally meant tube tops and/or Speedos) as much as I did the very tall young man wearing the "Enjoy Vagina" T-shirt at Jewel on Sunday. The place was packed with people and I'm sure many parents didn't appreciate his attire.

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  12. I do not mind the pride parade at all. It is fun to watch with my wife but many of the parade viewers go way over the limit and show little or no respect to people that are around them and the neighborhoods they walk through. Smoking dope, drinking, yelling and throwing trash all over the place. I like fun but there is a limit. Enough is enough.

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  13. Un-bias... dial it down. "Do away with them"? Line them up and shoot them? Are you really asking for street executions by our alderman?

    Think for a second before your post.

    The gangbangers don't give a crap about Pride or people's orientation. They're looking for the cops to be otherwise occupied to have a chance to cause mayhem. Montrose Harbor Rocks gives them that chance, as tons of people spill into Uptown ... right after tons of people spill into Boystown earlier in the day (same police district).

    The terrorists (gangbangers) know that coverage is light on the ground, so they use that excuse to shoot each other.

    "Bring more police!" you cry. Well, the department is thousands of officers short. That nasty little budget problem, and years of the administration borrowing from Peter to pay Paul as a makeshift solution to the shortages. Corruption costs a lot of money, you know.

    Not to mention millions of dollars coming out of the property taxes and going into TIFs, money that has traditionally funded the police department.

    The only way I can see to stop this from recurring is to weaken the gangs. We have new aldermen who have promised to work closely with the CHA and the police to stop giving the terrorists shelter in Uptown's housing, which can only be better for those who live there and for those who live near it. We have many extra officers on our streets most days; surely you've noticed? We have undercover operations like Sugar Magnolia and Uptown Girl targeting the gangs. It's got to be making them uncomfortable and costing them hundreds of thousands in bond money and disrupted sales.

    And of course we have citizens who turn in video of them and call 911 and communicate with the police about what's going on.

    So if that's what you mean by "Do away with them," it's already happening. I encourage you to keep calling the police, to keep attending CAPS meeting (you do, right?) and stop acting like the gangs are personally targeting the gay community. They're targeting us ALL, dude.

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  14. @ Truman square, I'll keep it short and simple. My alderman IS doing away with them. The rest? Again, dosnt dignify further comment.

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  15. jon said:

    I would love our Watch Commander to promise us this lack of police will be rectified next year.. [b]there is a BIG difference between policing a bunch of drunks at a parade vs. shootings a mile north..[/b] priorities need to be realigned here..

    as a Lakeview resident I saw what hapenned to Lakeview at night Sunday. Thousands, yup that not an exaggeration, of ghetto youth along with all their violance.

    I saw about hundred youth at about 11pm on Halsted stop a car and jump all over it, roof, hood, trunk and all. Then on to the next car.

    I saw two huge fights. How about the resident of my building who got beat real bad on our property of our building? How about the robberies, the assaults, the crap attitude, the yelling, the racial slurs, and fights?

    At night the ghetto descended upon Lakeview and was again no exaggeration about 80% of the people out on Halsted after 10pm. My local 7-11 had a 10-15 person fight.

    One gay bar that I saw brought in armed private security.

    Yes it was that bad. I am stunned.

    If there was a small police presence in Lakeview there would have been a whole lot more trouble.

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  16. There are always problems during the Pride activities. You take maybe 1/2 million people, add alcohol, add heat, voila.....problems.

    Personally considering that most people seem to be just having a good time I can overlook some of the over the top silliness one day of the year.

    The problems that occur seem to generally happen after the sun goes down and the alcohol and stupidity really kicks in.

    This year it seems that maybe the crowd was larger than normal as some of the problems happened earlier in the day according to Windy City Times.

    I didn't leave Uptown yesterday so I can't directly speak to what happened in Lakeview, but generally what I saw here was a bunch of tired and drunk partiers heavily skewed to "lesbians of color" walking happily on our streets. Gawd, I love typing "lesbians of color", makes me feel like a politically correct dweeb. In my normal persona I'd say "black lesbians", but that ain't as much fun. I avoid the lakefront that day so I don't know of any problems there.

    In the past I have witnessed lesbians duking it out in the Jewel parking lot, but from what I saw yesterday in Uptown everything seemed relatively calm.

    Again my experience on my street and shopping at Target and Jewel after sundown may be different than others.

    At least the Cubs weren't at home yesterday. Gay Pride + Cubs game = gridlock.

    Generally the problems associated with Pride weekend in Uptown are relatively minor. At least not enough to consider stopping the celebration as the South Side Irish Parade was stopped because of violence, public sex and possibly some public inebriation.

    Thank Gawd St. Paddy's day is in March!

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  17. I can't believe there are still people that protest gays. (Not sure if that is the P.C. term) I went to the gay pride parade several times and had fun. How do those protesters have this kind of time on your hands? Sounds like you are just a loser and don't have a job!! Or they are just crazy.

    I had a law school professor that announces that yes, he was gay on the first day of law school. My silent response was, "Things I don't care about for $1000 Alex!" Lets talk about what the hell the rule of perpetuities is!

    He turned out to be the best professor I ever had... as a side note.

    I JUST DON'T CARE!! New York just made gay marriage legal, and guess what.... the world did not get taken over by locusts and nobody in New York was struck by lightning!

    Further, I think Civil Unions is a good compromise, but I can't get past the Plessey / Brown v. Board issue.

    But then again, it is all stupid to me so I haven't really worked on it!
    OK. I wil shut up now.

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  18. Ummm, isn't that a police SUV in the last second of the video that the "suspect" is running past?

    Were they in the cruiser asleep???

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  19. @John... we have had shootings two years in a row on the same street. you havent..you lose..

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  20. ^using that train of thought I suppose you aren't one of the people that are against re assigning police from lower crime districts to higher ones. That would mean Uptown loses police.

    Do you know how many people are mugged and attacked in Lakeview every single night? Yes it is that bad. The ghetto loves to travel into Lakeview to hang out at night.

    The difference between Uptown and Lakeview is that all of the perpetrators in Lakeview are from outside the neighborhood.

    If you think the citizens of Lakeview should not get adequate police protection because Uptown is hogging them and needs it then I lets re-assign 23rd district police to Englewood et all using that logic.

    Oh and btw, shots fired on Belmont/Clark Sunday night in the heart of Lakeview.

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  21. Laughing at the last two comments. No, my hood is worse! No, mine is!

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