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.

At least 100 people were shot, including 18 who died, between Friday evening and Monday night in what was so far the bloodiest weekend of 2021, according to Chicago Police Department data.

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.

It’s no secret that America is divided across partisan and racial lines. But a new, nationwide survey of white and Black Americans from the University of Illinois at Chicago illustrates just how deep some of those divisions are.

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

Police officials say additional officers will be on the ground this holiday weekend, including along the lakefront and around entertainment venues. Those officers will be working 12-hour shifts and all days off have been canceled through Monday.

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.

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.

Eugene Burns, 19, allegedly acted as the getaway driver in a 2020 gang-related shooting and later “terrorized” another man and his two family members during a home invasion on the West Side earlier this year.

Through mid-June, the city has recorded more than a 30% increase in murders compared to 2019, and a nearly 60% jump over the same period when it came to shootings, according to data released by the Chicago Police Department.