A 28-year-old Chicago man who allegedly shot two federal agents and a Chicago police officer as they were driving Wednesday in an unmarked vehicle in Morgan Park apparently believed the victims were members of a rival street gang, according to federal prosecutors.

An Iowa man who was in custody in Chicago after police found a rifle with a laser sight in a hotel room that overlooks a Lake Michigan beach during the July Fourth weekend made bond and then proposed to his girlfriend upon his release.

More than 100 people were shot over the Fourth of July weekend in Chicago, one of the city’s deadliest in years. Some officials are blaming the courts for the recent violence. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. respond.

A Chicago police officer and two federal agents are expected to survive after they were shot early Wednesday while driving in a vehicle onto the I-57 highway. A person of interest is being questioned in connection with the shooting, officials said.

Following a violent holiday weekend in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said young people need to “put down the guns.” Community organizations fighting to stem the rising tide of violence talk about their efforts and the root causes of violence in the city.

Keegan Casteel, 32, was allegedly found in possession of a loaded rifle with a laser sight and multiple ammunition magazines inside his 12th-floor Chicago hotel room overlooking Ohio Street Beach during the Fourth of July weekend.

In Chicago, 100 people were shot and 18 people were killed from 6 p.m. Friday to 11:59 p.m. Monday, according to the Chicago Police Department. There were 69 shooting incidents during that period, police said.

Chicago’s “challenging” holiday weekend turned more violent overnight after four people were shot in a drive-by shooting.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot took a page from former President Donald Trump on Thursday and bestowed a belittling moniker on a political opponent, referring to Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) as “Burger King Ed,” a reference to the criminal charges Burke faces.

Chicago has recorded 332 homicides through the first six months of 2021, according to the Chicago Police Department. Though that figure is just below the 338 homicides in the first half of 2020, it still marks the second deadliest six-month stretch to start a year since 1999.

The special meeting set for Friday is the second time this year that aldermen have called an emergency meeting of the Chicago City Council over Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s objections. Our Spotlight Politics team weighs in.

Chicago and other major cities are experiencing a “pandemic-spurred surge” in violence that officials are having success in fighting despite a rising number of shootings and homicides, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a one-on-one interview Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight.”

Hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed the shutdown of the Cook County court system by the COVID-19 pandemic for escalating violence across Chicago’s South and West sides, several aldermen told “Chicago Tonight” that rising inequality and distrust of the police is to blame. 

Police Superintendent David Brown on Monday said investigations remain ongoing into a shooting in the South Shore that left one dead and five injured, and another at Marquette Park that left one dead and 10 injured.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability recommended two months ago that Officer Evan Solano have his gun and badge taken from him after the March fatal shooting of a 22-year-old in Portage Park, even as a probe of the killing continues.

President Joe Biden announced new efforts Wednesday to stem a rising national tide of violent crime, declaring the federal government is “taking on the bad actors doing bad things to our communities.” But questions persist about how effective the efforts can be in what could be a turbulent summer.