Chicago television reporter Joanie Lum went to work last week thinking it would be like any other day.
Lum was filming a live news segment on the rise of gun violence in Chicago for WFLD-TV, the local Fox station she works for, when the unthinkable happened.
Much to the news crew’s shock, a man walked by pointing an apparent gun at them.
Chicago police have issued a community alert, asking for the public’s help in finding the man.
According to WFLD, police say the man is accused of aggravated assault with a firearm. No one was injured during the incident.
The city of Chicago is well-known for its crime, specifically gun violence, despite the city’s strict gun control laws.
In recent weeks, a wave of gun violence has plagued the Windy City, including a fatal shooting of a teenager May 16 at the city’s famed Millennium Park, one of the Midwest’s biggest tourist sites.
A 17-year-old boy is believed to have shot Seandell Holliday, 16, and has been charged with second-degree murder, according to WFLD.
Are Democratic policies to blame for Chicago’s crime problem?
In light of the incident, Chicago’s liberal Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a 6 p.m. weekend curfew at Millennium Park. After 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Weekends are particularly dangerous in Chicago, but the Memorial Day weekend was the bloodiest in five years, with 51 people shot, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Of those shot between Friday and Tuesday, nine were killed, according to WMAQ-TV.
Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country and yet every weekend Chicago records more victims of violent crime.
In fact, 2021 was one of the most violent years on record in Chicago, with a rise in shootings that left more people dead than any single year since 1996, according to WMAQ, citing statistics released by the Chicago Police Department.
According to the statistics, 3,561 shooting incidents and 797 homicides were reported in 2021, substantially more than what occurred in New York City or Los Angeles, the station reported.
More children were shot in Chicago between the beginning of January 2021 and the end of January 2022 — at least 276, according to WBBM-TV — than have been killed in mass school shootings since 1999.
While the Democratic Party is quick to comment on mass shootings with calls for more gun control, they often remain silent on the gun violence problem in Chicago.
Many Republicans point to Chicago as an example of how gun control policies fail.
One TV crew might agree.
