EDITORIAL: Garry McCarthy gets it wrong on murder charges in deaths of 2 cops

In an editorial on Wednesday, we looked at where 13 mayoral candidates stand on sentencing of repeat gun offenders.

We supported the controversial state law passed last year that requires judges to impose longer prison terms for repeat gun offenses. It was a tough call — we typically favor less incarceration, not more — but we believe Chicago has to do more to curb violent crime.

One candidate we didn’t mention in that editorial was former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. He never responded to our question.

But McCarthy made his stand on gun sentencing crystal-clear during a radio show on Friday: Lock ‘em all up and toss the keys in the trash, is his thinking.

If McCarthy had his way, the man being pursued by police officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo, just before the two were hit and killed by a commuter train, would be changed with crimes “up to felony murder.”

Edward R. Brown is now McCarthy’s official straw man.

Don’t be surprised if McCarthy takes to talk radio again, or grabs any microphone in front of him, to brand as “anti-cop” anyone who disagrees with his absurd political theater. He’s already called out top opponent Toni Preckwinkle and her political protege, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who charged Brown appropriately, with several felony gun offenses.

Columnist Neil Steinberg said it all perfectly: Upgrading charges is meant for cases in which there was a clear criminal intent by the offender, even if he or she didn’t actually pull the trigger or wasn’t at the scene. Like the getaway driver at a bank robbery gone wrong.

It’s overreach to pile on against Brown. He did something incredibly stupid and, as the judge who set his bail noted, “inherently dangerous”: He found a gun in an alley and fired it. Gary and Marmolejo were investigating when a train they apparently never heard coming hit them from behind.

A stupid and dangerous action by Brown? Yes. A murderous act? No.

Calling it that won’t make the accidental deaths of two promising young officers any less tragic.

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