CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx held a press conference Tuesday morning to respond to comments by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot regarding a lack of charges in a shooting case in the Austin neighborhood.
“I’m not here to fight with the mayor,” Foxx said during the press conference, which she noted as being “unusual” for her at the last minute.
On Monday, Lightfoot said she was disappointed Foxx’s office declined to press charges against anyone involved with that fatal, gang-related gunfight that left one person dead on the West Side last Friday.
Five suspects were arrested, but prosecutors would not press charges, explaining there wasn't sufficient evidence though not ruling out doing so if more information in the case is forthcoming.
On Tuesday, Foxx said she was calling out what she said was “inappropriate, wrong, disturbing, a disservice and a political stunt.”
“The statements that were made yesterday that were not factually accurate, should this case be ready for charging, may pose potential issues. Nobody wants that. Not for a political stunt. Not for a press hit. There's a shootout in Austin. Our number one concern should be about getting those people prosecuted. Not a headline diverting attention away from the fact that we have not had a comprehensive plan for violence in the city of Chicago,” Foxx continued.
The state’s attorney then went on to make a comparison to when Mayor Jane Byrne briefly moved into the Cabrini-Green Homes, a public housing complex on the Near North Side that became notorious for its violent crimes.
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It was 1981 and Foxx lived there at the time.
She said when Byrne left they were still poor and there were still cockroaches and violence.
Lightfoot hasn’t responded to Foxx as of press time.
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