Today, two Chicago men were shot outside a funeral home on the poverty-ridden South Side of the city. The two men were at a funeral for another man who was shot to death last week on the South Side; the police reported that that man was a gang member. The minister at the funeral, Rev. Corey Brooks, tweeted afterward, “This is Crazy.”
“I just preached a funeral and gunfire has broke out,” the minister tweeted. “Chaos about 500 people here. This is Crazy!!” He later added, “Please pray for Chicago.”
Thus far this year, shootings have been rampant throughout the city, even as Mayor Rahm Emanuel suggests that the rest of the nation should adopt Chicago-like policies. Said Brooks, “It says that things are definitely out of control. There was a time with a lot of gangbangers, older guys, where things were off limits, weddings, funerals. Church was off limits. Now we are living at a day and time where these younger criminals have no regard for life or for street rules. That means things have gotten to a level where someone has to step in and do some drastic things to change it.”