Chicago’s wealthiest neighborhood’s are not safe from the crime wave plaguing the Windy City and are being deprived of much-needed violence prevention funding, an Illinois lawmaker raged, after he shared harrowing footage of a drive-by shooting right outside his front door.
Rep. Jaime Andrade, 49, posted video from his Ring doorbell showing two vehicles driving onto his a picturesque street lit only by porch lights in the North Side neighborhood of Albany Park
Within seconds, dozens of loud gunshots go off one after the other. One car appears to back away while another one is heard speeding off in the distance.
‘Another typical night in the neighborhood,’ Andrade wrote on Sunday morning. ‘This will keep happening as long as criminals feel there is no consequences for their actions. The only difference between the old Wild Wild West instead of horses they now use vehicles.’
The Democratic lawmaker claims his colleagues have refused to fund crime prevention in his district because there’s ‘too much wealth’ in it.
Illinois state Rep. Jaime Andrade posted video Sunday morning of dozens of shots being fired in a drive-by shooting right outside his home in Albany Park, Chicago
After the shooting, he posted photos of a car with a shot-through windshield on the street
‘This will keep happening as long as criminals feel there is no consequences for their actions,’ Andrade said, as murders and shootings continue to rise throughout the city
Albany Park, located about five miles west of Wrigley Field, has a median income of $61,000, slightly higher than the city average of $58,000.
The average home in the neighborhood, part of Illinois’ 40th House district, costs $350,000, according to Realtor.com. That’s in line with home prices citywide, which sit at $349,700.
‘We’re trying to maintain that sense of safety, but I have people now that are getting carjacked during the day, during the day.’
Andrade’s neighborhood is in the 17th police district, which has seen five murders this year, down from 10 in the same period last year, according to the Chicago Police Department.
On Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill declaring gun violence a public health crisis, according to Capitol News Illinois.
Pritzker said this year’s state budget includes $50 million for the Reimagine Public Safety Act, and that he will push for another $200 million over the next two years.
Andrade doesn’t expect to see any of that money, saying that high income people get lumped together with the rest of the population in his district, making some look richer and safer than they actually are.
‘It makes, in theory and on paper, it makes the 17th district look like the safest district in the city,’ he told WGN radio. ‘The issue is, since the neighborhood is higher income and low on crime throughout the whole district, that we receive no resources.
‘Even with this last bill that was just signed by the governor yesterday, my community will probably get 0 out of $250 million.’
Following the shooting, a spokeswoman for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot touted the city’s $400 million commitment to the ‘Our City, Our Safety’ violence reduction plan
State Rep. Andrade, a Democrat, found shell casings outside his home in shooting captured by his Ring doorbell
A police spokeswoman told Fox News that shootings with no human victims are considered ‘criminal damage to property,’ meaning the actual amount of gunfire exchanges may be underreported when considering incidents that don’t hurt anyone.
Andrade told WBBM: ‘It’s clearly a lot more. There’s something not being taken into consideration.’
‘We have storefronts of businesses that have been shot and bullets going through them during the day,’ he told Fox News. ‘I can’t even feel comfortable at my office because two blocks west of me, U.S. Bank got a bullet in the front window…at 2.30pm.’
The morning after the shooting outside his home, Andrade photographed shell casings lying on the street, along with a parked car with a shot-through windshield and a flat tire.
‘All these shooting incidents that are caught on people’s cameras. All these incidents that, there’s casings found in everything and the shootings. None of that is recorded as gun violence.’
The Chicago Police Department told Fox News that one person was shot.
There have been 42 shootings in the area, down from 55 last year. The department has counted just one in the area in the past month.
Shootings and murders are up throughout Chicago, according to the latest police statistics
The 49-year-old lawmaker blames a glitch in the way that crime-fighting funds are allocated. He says the rich, safer parts of his district make it look like a wealthy area with low crime
As of October 31, there have been 3,030 shooting incidents the city, up from 2,764 in the same period last year. There have been 678 murders, up from 661 at this point in 2020 and higher than in all of 2019, when WMAQ reports there were 500.
A spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the administration has carved our resources for the entire city.
‘The City funds violence prevention programs across the entire city, and spends significant time, energy and resources addressing issues and incidents that are specific to the North Side,’ the spokesperson told Fox News.
‘The Mayor, as well as members of her team and the Superintendent of Police have been to North Side districts, including Representative Andrade’s, numerous times to meet with residents and community leaders to address their concerns.’
The city spokesperson touted ‘the over $400 million allocated toward supporting the “Our City, Our Safety” violence reduction plan in the City’s recently passed historic FY2022 budget.’
Murder and shooting incidents are up citywide with Chicago being ranked the 28th deadliest city in the US, according to a CBS News tally using FBI data. The top five are St. Louis; Baltimore; Birmingham, Alabama; Detroit; and Dayton, Ohio.
The Albany Park neighborhood, above, is part of the 17th district in Chicago and the 40th Illinois House district. The area has recorded a reduction in shootings and murders this year
Source: Daily Mail
