The system failed Amari, the police chief said. Amari’s father, who has been arrested 45 times and has a lengthy criminal record, should not have been on the streets, McCarthy said.
When a city has eight killings in two days, including the death of a 7-year-old boy, something is seriously wrong with the system.
That’s what Chicago’s police chief said after a spate of bloodshed that tormented the city over the weekend.
“We need to repair a broken system,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters Sunday. “Criminals don’t feel the repercussions of the justice system.”
Take, for example, the death of 7-year-old Amari Brown. McCarthy said the boy was the unintended victim of a bullet meant for his father, a ranking gang member.
The system failed Amari, the police chief said. Amari’s father, who has been arrested 45 times and has a lengthy criminal record, should not have been on the streets, McCarthy said.
Existing laws, McCarthy said, made it easy for the man to get out of jail the day after he was arrested on a firearms charge in April.
“If Mr. Brown is in custody, his son is alive,” McCarthy said.
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