Highland Park’s community emergency response team, or CERT, made up of residents from all walks of life — doctors, businesspeople, scientists — had a vital role to play in response to the mass shooting. 

Since 2016, thousands of Americans have been wounded in mass shootings, and tens of thousands by gun violence. Beyond the colossal medical bills and the weight of trauma and grief, mass shooting survivors and family members contend with scores of other changes that upend their lives.

The number of people shot in Chicago dropped more than 10% in the first six months of this year, as compared with the same period last year, according to police data. The number of shootings is down 6.4%, according to police data.

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting that left seven dead and 48 more wounded, and 22-year-old Robert Crimo III remains in custody after being indicted on 117 felony charges — including 21 counts of first-degree murder.

On Monday, WTTW News launches a new initiative, “A Safer City.” In an effort to help facilitate the complicated but necessary conversation around violence, we aim to explore violence in all its forms with depth and nuance.

The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, effectively killed the $400 billion plan, announced by President Joe Biden last year, and left borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume by late summer.

The number of homes searched by Chicago Police officers dropped nearly 90% since 2019, the same year a botched raid left social worker Anjanette Young handcuffed while naked and pleading for help, according to new data.

The seventh semiannual report from the team led by attorney Maggie Hickey urges police brass and city leaders to “urgently address” staffing shortages, a lack of supervision for officers and poor data collection, analysis and management.

April Perry, who currently serves as senior counsel overseeing Global Investigations and Fraud and Abuse Prevention at GE HealthCare, has been nominated to become the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois after John Lausch stepped down earlier this year.

The agency’s substantial backlog — made up of cases more than 18 months old — is compromising COPA’s ability to investigate more recent complaints alleging significant misconduct by Chicago Police officers, Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten said.

Attorneys for 35-year-old Carlishia Hood announced the lawsuit Tuesday morning, claiming the arrest of Hood and her son was an “obvious rush to judgment” by police following the fatal June 18 shooting.

The report details how the agencies failed to recognize and warn of the potential for violence as some of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters openly planned the siege in messages and forums online.

It will be up to Garien Gatewood, the city’s new deputy mayor for community safety, to make good on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s promise to take a new approach to the surge of crime and violence that took hold in Chicago. 

A spokesperson for the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office confirmed it had dropped first-degree murder charges against Carlishia Hood and her son stemming from a fatal June 18 shooting.

According to Chicago Police Department figures, 29 people were shot in 25 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday. That included at least three teenagers who were killed by gunfire.