Chicago is world-famous for its historically sky-high crime rate, and I'm sad to report that the city's apparent response to its latest crime surge is to let gang leaders out on minuscule bail rather than lock them up.
After which you get this sort of thing:
A mass shooting that left one man dead and four injured in Back of the Yards on Tuesday afternoon is part of a weeks-long gang war fueled by a high-ranking gang member who paid just $1,000 to get out of jail for a felony gun case in March — four days after being released from federal prison, according to Chicago Police Supt. David Brown and court records.
The alleged ringleader's name: Sergio Barron. Here he is:
Video of Tuesday's shooting, meanwhile, is pretty rough:
[Warning: Graphic]
Barron, 28, received an eight-year sentence in 2017 for aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault of a police officer. The charges stemmed from a case in which he allegedly fired a gun into an occupied car and then pointed the weapon at responding police officers.
He was released on federal parole on March 24, Assistant State's Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis said when Barron appeared in Cook County bond court on a new felony gun charge just four days later.
So he got an eight-year sentence in 2017 on serious gun and assault charges, served five years of it, and then ended up back in local court literally not a week after being released on gun charges once again?
And boy, oh boy, did Chicago really step up to the plate:
After hearing the allegations, details about the federal case, and that Barron was released on federal parole just four days earlier for shooting into an occupied car and threatening cops with a gun, Judge Maryam Ahmad told Barron he could go home by posting a 10% bail deposit of $1,000.
That's the exact amount his public defender said he could afford, according to court records.
Gee, I wonder where he got $1,000? Probably from mowing lawns or something.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, meanwhile, swooped in for the understatement of the century:
"The risk assessment on violent offenders by our judges needs to get better," Brown said Wednesday.
Welcome to New Chicago, same as the Old Chicago.
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