Thousands of people descended on Chicago overnight, looting stores, breaking windows and causing widespread damage on some of the city’s most famous streets.
Two people were shot, 13 police officers were injured and more than 100 arrests have been made, Chicago police said Monday morning.
Videos posted to social media showed large crowds breaking windows and entering stores along the Magnificent Mile, State Street and parts of the Gold Coast neighborhood, South Loop and Near North Sides.
“Waking up it’s sad, it’s such a beautiful city. It’s just being destroyed in front of our eyes,” said Maddy Quinn, Chicago resident.
CPD superintendent David Brown said Monday more than 400 officers were deployed to the downtown area after officers were notified of social media posts encouraging people to go to the Loop and loot businesses.
“Criminals took to the streets with the confidence that there would be no consequences for their actions,” Brown said. “This was not an organized protest. Rather, this was an incident of pure criminality.”
As a result, there will be restricted access to the Loop starting Monday night. Access to the downtown area will be restricted from 8 PM to 6 AM, city officials said.
The ABC7 I-Team obtained a social media post that Chicago police detectives said directed looters to converge on Gold Coast stores starting at 12 AM Monday. The post points looters away from the South, West and East sides, and instead tells them to target downtown and the North Side. Looters are encouraged to bring tools, ski masks and gloves… ABC7 News
