Left-wing activist Rev. Jesse Jackson decried widespread looting in the Democrat-run city of Chicago Monday morning, calling it “humiliating, embarrassing, and morally wrong.”
“This act of pillaging, robbing & looting in Chicago was humiliating, embarrassing & morally wrong,” Jackson wrote on social media. “It must not be associated with our quest for social justice and equality. #DrKing, #MedgarEvers & , our martyrs, cry together in shame.”
Hundreds of people descended on downtown Chicago overnight after a police shooting on the city’s South Side, with vandals smashing the windows of dozens of businesses and making off with merchandise, cash machines, and anything else they could carry, authorities said.
Hours earlier, on Sunday afternoon, police shot a man after he opened fire on officers — an incident that apparently prompted a social media post urging people to converge on the business district, Police Superintendent David Brown told a news conference.
Some 400 additional officers were dispatched to the area after the department spotted the post. Over several hours, police made more than 100 arrests and 13 officers were injured, including one who was struck in the head with a bottle, Brown said.
Brown dismissed any suggestion that the chaos was part of an organized protest of the shooting, calling it “pure criminality.” In one disturbing incident, he said, occupants of a vehicle opened fire on police who were arresting a man they spotted carrying a cash register.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted the rioters in a press conference, warning criminals that “We are coming for you.”
“We are waking up in shock this morning,” Lightfoot said. “These individuals engaged in what can only be described as brazen and extensive criminal looting and destruction. And to be clear, this had nothing to do with legitimate, protected First Amendment expression.”
“We are not going to let our city be taken over by criminals and vigilantes,” she added.
Despite Lightfoot’s stern words, she has repeatedly rejected offers from the Trump administration to combat violent crime with federal troops.
The AP contributed to this report.
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