Lightfoot says Johnson’s job safe after city’s most violent weekend this year

“Weekends like this remind us of the challenges we face and that they are complex and profound,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said.

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Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson talks about the high level of violence during the weekend of May 31 to June 2, 2019.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson talks about the level of violence over the weekend.

Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times

After the year’s most violent weekend — in which 52 people were shot, eight fatally — Mayor Lori Lightfoot summoned the city’s top cop and two dozen top police brass to City Hall.

She called it “Accountability Monday,” and though she emphasized that CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson’s job is safe, and no big command shakeups are forthcoming, she also promised to keep the heat on.

“I have great confidence in the superintendent. But I’m gonna keep pushing him as I’m pushing the entire leadership team,” Lightfoot added.

“If they’re not going to bed every night and waking up every morning worrying and having a sense of urgency and asking themselves what more they can personally do to fight crime and stem the violence in our city, they’re in the wrong job.”

Earlier in the day, Johnson had held a news conference to discuss the weekend shootings, calling them “despicable.”

“Weekends like this remind us of the challenges we face and that they are complex and profound,” Johnson told reporters Monday at police headquarters at 35th Street and South Michigan Avenue.

“I’m upset as a human being that we’ve had so many people shot and so many homicides,” Lightfoot said later at City Hall.

“And I want to make sure that we have plans in place to be pro-actively addressing these issues and not just accumulating data that we’re not acting upon.”

Johnson’s job is not in jeopardy, and no changes in other CPD leadership are needed “at this time,” she said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently introduced an ordinance aimed at tackling childhood obesity.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters at City Hall Monday afternoon that CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson’s job is not in danger, but that she will keep pushing him and the rest of the department brass to do better.

Fran Spielman / Sun-Times

With the traditional summer violence surge yet to come, Lightfoot said she was “optimistic that we will have effective strategies … in place because I’m gonna make sure that happens.” 

Police said most of the weekend shootings were not random and resulted from an uptick in gang activity on the South and West sides. Johnson said 92 guns were recovered during the weekend — about double for what would be considered typical for a weekend in the city. And 18 people were arrested on gun-related charges, Johnson said.

The carnage comes on the heels of the Memorial Day weekend violence, which left at least 41 shot, including seven fatally.

As he has many times before, Johnson on Monday blamed part of the problem on a criminal justice system that, he said, is way too easy on repeat gun offenders.

“It’s ridiculous to me that we know when we arrest these gun offenders . . . half of them get out and are back on the street in a week or less,” Johnson said.

A report on the effect of bail reform at the Cook County Jail, released just last month, however, showed that judges are holding almost nine times more felony defendants without bail. It also showed more than eight out of 10 defendants released on weapons charges were not charged with a new crime while their case was pending.

A rash of violence left 31 wounded during the first 12 hours of the weekend, which began at 5 p.m. Friday and ended 5 a.m. Monday.

Johnson ordered targeted patrols in areas susceptible to retaliatory incidents in response to the flurry, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

The wave of violence comes as police announced a decrease in the amount of shootings in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.

In the weekend’s latest fatal shooting, two men were killed Sunday while driving through Old Town on the North Side.

The pair were westbound in the 100 block of West North Avenue just before 6 a.m. when people in another vehicle began shooting at them, Chicago police said.

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