Politics
Chicago Advocates Call for New Gun Violence Prevention Efforts After Mass Shooting, Trump Response
A Chicago Police Department vehicle is parked on Clark Street near Daley Plaza on June 15, 2025. (Victor Hilitski / WTTW News)
Chicago violence prevention advocates renewed their calls for a dedicated department aimed at stopping gun crimes, days after a drive-by shooting injured more than a dozen people on the city’s far South Side and President Donald Trump once again pushed for federal intervention.
A group of faith leaders and elected officials on Monday called for the creation of a new Department of Gun Violence Prevention, claiming the existing Office of Violence Prevention is a “ghost office” that doesn’t do enough to keep Chicagoans safe.
“It is senseless that all these other cities have this and Chicago, which has been a posterboy for violence does not have one,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger said. “It’s time. Fund peace today.”
Advocates pushing for the new department said it would serve as a unified, prevention-focused strategy that would not be subject to political leadership changes or inconsistent investments.
Instead, they said the department would be focused only on reducing gun violence, coordinating prevention efforts and supporting community-based solutions, regardless of who serves as mayor.
“This is not a race or an ethnic or a cultural issue, this is a humane issue,” Cook County Board Commissioner Kisha McCaskill said. “We deserve to live in a community, in a county, in a city and in a state that actually supports our livelihood by creating a better way of life, a better quality of live for everyone.”
Those comments came after a weekend in which six people were killed and 33 more were injured in shootings across the city. That includes a drive-by shooting that left 13 injured in Princeton Park late Friday.
According to Chicago police, a red SUV pulled alongside a large crowd in the 200 block of West 95th Street just after 11 p.m. when two people from inside began firing.
The victims ranged in age from 17 to 47 years old. Two were listed in critical condition, while the others ranged from fair to good condition, police said.
Trump used the weekend violence to call out Gov. JB Pritzker — a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate — writing in a social media post Sunday there had been “Lots of Killing going on in Chicago.”
“Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!” Trump said in the post.
Trump last year repeatedly blasted Chicago as a “hell hole” even as the city say historic reductions in shootings and homicides through 2025. His administration mobilized hundreds of National Guards troops and sent them to Illinois last fall, though those deployment efforts were eventually blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pfleger on Monday said if Trump wants to help reduce violence in Chicago, he should stop withholding millions from the city in federal funding.
“Shut up Donald,” he said. “Just send money and restore the amount you took away from gun violence prevention for the city of Chicago and across this country.”
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
