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Chicago Had So Many Shootings Recently An ER Had To Shut Its Doors

Chicago Had So Many Shootings Recently An ER Had To Shut Its Doors

Chicago Shootings
By Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr

Chicago wasn’t nicknamed ‘Chi-raq’ for no reason. The city recently experienced its most violent weekend of the year with 72 shootings and 13 fatalities, reported USA Today. Hospitals were so overwhelmed by the violence, Mount Sinai had to temporarily shut the doors to its emergency room (ER), Vice reported.

According to Vice, after receiving 12 shooting victims, Mount Sinai went into bypass mode, which refers to a status when hospitals no longer take new patients and redirect ambulances to other hospitals and trauma centers.

Among the victims was 32-year-old Shantel Boler, who was found dead in a bathtub with her hand and feet bound Sunday night. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel decried the community’s silence.

“There is a shortage of values about what is right, what is wrong … We as a city, in every corner, have an accountability and responsibility. If you know who did this, be a neighbor. Speak up,” Emanuel said.

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Violence in Chicago has been at pitch for years with many blaming city officials for not doing enough to address the gun violence problem. Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions even blamed Black Lives Matter last year for the city’s violence.

Paul Vallas, Emanuel’s challenger in the mayoral race, said enough is enough.

“What Chicago witnessed this weekend was absolutely horrific and should not be tolerated … Right now, Chicago has one of the worst clearance rates for homicides and other violent crimes among America’s major cities. This is a crisis in which four out of five killers in Chicago are literally getting away with murder,” Vallas said.