Chicago Police Witnessed Deadly Gang Shootout – But Prosecutors Still Released Suspects

If you don't prosecute the few gang members police catch, guess what? You get more violent crime. More than 70 shell casings were found at one of the latest horrifying crime scenes to rock Chicago.

Per the Chicago Sun-Times:

Five men linked to a deadly gang-related shootout Friday in Austin were released from custody after prosecutors declined to charge each of them with a pair of felonies, including first-degree murder, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The brazen mid-morning gunfight, which left one shooter dead and two of the suspects wounded, stemmed from an internal dispute between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.

Despite Chicago P.D.'s determination to charge all five suspects with murder, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx ordered the release of every single one. Her office declined to file any charges. Foxx's office initially said it wouldn't file charges because the incident involved “mutual combat” between gangbangers. Cook County prosecutors later changed their reasoning, claiming there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone.

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This was too much even for Chicago's left-wing mayor, Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoot lambasted Foxx to the press, exclaiming that surveillance cameras even recorded the shootout.

“She's got to explain to the public, why? Given that evidence, a pod camera right there that captured the entire thing and police officers on the scene in uniform, and a squad car there, why that isn't enough?” Lightfoot said at a press conference Monday. “If the bad guys that are out there that are picking up guns and shooting without any regard for the sanctity of life, do not believe that there's accountability for them, the brazenness will not end. It will escalate, it will continue and our communities will not be safe.”

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More details are available here:

The Cook County State's Attorney's office explained that prosecutors had “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges,” a State's Attorney's office spokeswoman said, adding that police officials agreed with the decision.

However, a police report told a different story.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time in recent weeks that Cook County prosecutors have found themselves embroiled in controversy. The family of murdered 18-year-old Manuel Porties Jr. told WGN in September that prosecutors declined to file charges against the teenager accused of stabbing him to death. Their rationale? The fatal encounter amounted to “mutual combat.”

Should suburban police departments come help combat Chicago's crime wave? Or is it even worth it given Kim Foxx's unusually lenient treatment of suspects in high-profile cases?

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.