Chicago police and mayor call gun violence in Chicago ‘unbearable’ – NBC Chicago

Chicago Police Commissioner Larry Snelling called gun violence in the city “intolerable and unacceptable” during a press conference on Tuesday after a seven-year-old child was fatally shot in broad daylight on Chicago’s Near West Side.

“The random shooting of this seven-year-old is unacceptable,” Snelling said. “We really have to think about who we are as a society when our children are being shot in the streets.”

Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call that shots had been fired and a person had been shot in the 2300 block of West Jackson Boulevard, Snelling said. When officers arrived, they found a child with a gunshot wound to the chest and lying on the ground.

Officers performed life-saving measures on the child before he was taken in a police car to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The Cook County Coroner later determined that the boy was Jaimainaimir Rivera.

According to authorities, Jaimainaimir was leaving the apartment to visit a nearby neighbor when he was hit by what was believed to be random gunfire.

“We’re losing our children,” Snelling said. “And we really need to think about the gun violence that’s going on in this city. And we all need to step up to fight this kind of gun violence and save our children.”

According to authorities, a seven-year-old child was shot dead in Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon.

Snelling added that the department is still investigating the incident and is looking for video footage or other evidence of the suspect(s) involved.

“If we arrest people for violent crimes, we have to prosecute them,” Snelling said. “We have to make sure they stay off the streets. We can’t have repeat offenders back on the streets. … There are great people living in these communities, and many of them are prisoners in their own homes. We want to do everything we can to put an end to that.”

According to Snelling, 124 young people were victims of gun violence in 2024. 17 of those shot were killed, Snelling added.

“These numbers are significantly lower than last year, but still unacceptable,” Snelling said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson also spoke at the press conference, saying he had reached a “breaking point” regarding gun violence in the city.

“This violence has to stop,” Johnson said. “Guns are pouring into the streets of Chicago and across the country. We have to stop it and then we have to hold people accountable.”

According to authorities, no one has been arrested. The investigation is still ongoing.