Do you wonder why Chicago has a high murder rate?: Chicago gunfight caught on camera shows gang members shoot into house, with police as witnesses, but prosecutors still released gang members

If you don’t prosecute the few gang members police catch, guess what? You get more violent crime. More than 70 shell casings were found at the crime scene.

Five men linked to a deadly gang-related shootout Friday in Austin were released from custody after prosecutors declined to charge each of them with a pair of felonies, including first-degree murder, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The brazen mid-morning gunfight, which left one shooter dead and two of the suspects wounded, stemmed from an internal dispute between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.

The source said police sought to charge all five suspects with murder and aggravated battery. By Sunday morning, a Chicago police spokeswoman acknowledged the suspects had “been released without charges.” . . .

Tom Schuba, “Prosecutors reject charges against 5 suspects in deadly gang-related gunfight in Austin,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 4, 2021.

This was too much more even Chicago’s left wing mayor.

“She’s got to explain to the public, why? Given that evidence, a pod camera right there that captured the entire thing and police officers on the scene in uniform, and a squad car there, why that isn’t enough?” Lightfoot said at a press conference Monday. “If the bad guys that are out there that are picking up guns and shooting without any regard for the sanctity of life, do not believe that there’s accountability for them, the brazenness will not end. It will escalate, it will continue and our communities will not be safe.”

Danielle Wallace, “Chicago shooting: Lightfoot, prosecutor Foxx exchange war of words over no charges filed in gang gunfight,” Fox News, October 5, 2021.

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