Ronald McDonald House Was One of the Chicago Looters’ Targets

The Ronald McDonald House in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago was targeted by looters early Monday morning.

The facility provides housing and resources to families who have a child receiving treatment at a local hospital. The suspected vandals allegedly broke into the facility near Lurie Children’s Hospital while families were sleeping inside, CBS Chicago reported.

Several windows were left smashed, and the front door to the facility had to be boarded up.

Residents had to be placed on lockdown while the mayhem took place outside.

“We’re here for families at all times — whether there’s a pandemic or civil unrest, we need to make sure that we are here allowing families to get the rest they need while they have a child in the hospital seeking care, and so it’s so important that anything that might be going on outside, we maintain our care for families,” said Lisa Mitchell of Ronald McDonald House.

No families staying at the facility missed appointments or treatments, according to the CBS Chicago report.

The looting in the city around that time was triggered by a shooting on Chicago’s South Side when a 20-year-old suspect on the lam from the police fired gunshots at officers in pursuit. Additional looting erupted in response to false reports of the police shooting a 15-year-old boy.

That incident sparked hours of looting and vandalism that resulted in 100 arrests and 13 injured police officers.

Police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the incident was not related to an organized protest.