On Tuesday evening, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot posted the following message on Twitter: “Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.”
At nearly the same moment, a group of people standing outside of a South Chicago funeral home was fired upon from a passing vehicle. They had gathered to mourn the death of Donnie Weathersby, 31, who had been fatally shot in the city a week earlier. Chicago Police Department First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said several members of the group “returned fire.” The vehicle later crashed, with its former occupants fleeing in several directions.
CBS Chicago reported that at least 60 shell casings were found at the scene, where 15 people were shot. Sources told CBS that police had been warned of the possibility of a “retaliatory strike” at the service and a “squad car was assigned” to the funeral. As of late Tuesday night, no arrests had been made, however, and one person of interest was being interviewed by the police.
Witnesses described the scene as “gruesome.” Arnita Gerder told Chicago’s WMAQ-TV, “All we saw was just bodies laying everywhere. Shot up everywhere, all over. Legs, stomach, back, all over the place. We thought it was a war out here.”
According to Chicago Police Department records, through July 19 this year 414 murders were recorded compared to 275 over the same period last year, a 51 percent increase. In the last 28 days, however, 116 murders occurred versus 40 during the same period in 2019, an increase of 190 percent. Last weekend, 63 people were shot and 12 were killed.
On Monday, President Trump declared, “New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore…we’re not going to let this happen in our country. We will have more federal law enforcement. That I can tell you.”
It was widely reported on Monday that the Department of Homeland Security was drafting a plan to send 150 federal agents to Chicago to assist local law enforcement officials. According to The Chicago Tribune, this report led Chicago’s far left, defiant mayor to say, “We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully.”
Lightfoot’s comment was a reference to Democrats’ wild claims that “unmarked jackbooted stormtrooper thugs” were “randomly rounding up people” in Portland, Oregon last Friday night.
Lightfoot is mistaken. A video posted to Twitter by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D), shows a suspect being apprehended by Customs and Border Protection agents and being walked to an unmarked van. The word “POLICE” appears in large yellow letters on the front of their uniforms. Additionally, the agents wore shoulder patches obscured by the darkness of the video.
In a statement, DHS clarified, “The CBP agents identified themselves and were wearing CBP insignia during the encounter. The names of the agents were not displayed due to recent doxing incidents against law enforcement personnel who serve and protect our country.”
On Tuesday, before both Lightfoot’s tweet in which she vowed not to allow federal troops into the city and the shooting outside the funeral home, The Tribune reported that she had agreed to allow federal agents in. According to The Tribune:
Lightfoot changed her tone after talking with U.S. Attorney John Lausch, a former colleague who she has said she respects and admires, who assured her an influx of law enforcement would be working ‘collaboratively’ with Chicago cops against violent crime.
The unfolding situation in Chicago ‘at this point’ won’t resemble the situation playing out in Portland, Oregon, where unidentified federal agents wearing camouflage uniforms have been denounced by local leaders for their actions, Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference. Instead, Lightfoot said she expects Chicago will receive resources that will plug into existing federal agencies that already work with the city, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In light of this report, it’s inexplicable why Lightfoot later issued a denial. Perhaps she did it to save face after joining five other mayors of crime-ridden, Democrat-run cities who sent a letter to leaders of Congress on Monday calling for “immediate removal of the President’s ‘Rapid Deployment Unit’ squads” and “a congressional investigation of their unconstitutional terror tactics.”
As anarchists take control, these mayors continue to denounce President Trump. They would apparently rather preside over lawless, dangerous cities than accept help from the federal government. Well, the truth has a way of smacking those who ignore it in the face. And for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, reality came very quickly on Tuesday night.
