Pfleger calls on Pritzker to declare gun violence an emergency in Illinois (Chicago, IL) – Declaring “Illinois is in a state of emergency,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger of the Archdiocese of Chicago is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to take immediate action.

“The Windy City is becoming known as a bloody city,” Pfleger told Fox News in demanding that the governor declare gun violence an emergency.

In addition, Pfleger is calling on Pritzker to “commit funds to reverse the trend here as well as call for an emergency summit of state, county, and city officials and community leaders and residents to come up with a comprehensive plan and strategy.”

During the July 11 weekend, the city of Chicago recorded its deadliest weekend so far this year, with more than 100 people being shot, 18 of them fatally.

“Governor Cuomo declared a gun violence state of emergency in New York State and is committing $139 million to reverse the trend of rising shootings and murders across the state. 886 people have been shot this year so far in New York, through July 4th,” Pfleger said in his statement.

Among the recent victims were a Chicago police officer and two ATF agents, all of whom were shot near a police station in the Morgan Park neighborhood. So far this year, 1,743 people have been shot and 357 killed in Chicago.

And the violence hasn’t ended there. Through June 16, 692 people reported being the victims of carjackings across the city, an increase of 65 percent compared to 2020 and 497 percent over 2015, according to an analysis of incident reports by Chicago City Wire.

At its current pace, the city is on course to see 2,339 carjackings this year, or 6.4 per day. Last year, Chicago saw a 20-year record of 1,413 carjackings, or 3.9 per day. Chicago Police Department officials report carjacking incidents peaked in 2002 at 1,370 per year, but had trended down to a low of just 303 in 2014 before taking off again.

Only five percent of carjacking suspects were arrested last year, and only seven percent have been arrested in 2021 with CPD data showing most perpetrators are repeat offenders.

In one instance, 19-year-old John Daniels has already been charged twice this year for carjacking, including one episode where an 11-year-old boy was allegedly one of his accomplices and the 59-year-old victim suffered a broken left orbital bone after being repeatedly punched by his attackers.

Pfleger calls on Pritzker to declare gun violence an emergency in Illinois

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