CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – While police are doing all they can to find Melissa Ortega’s killer, the city is moving hard to crack down on gang violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.
At an unrelated event, Lightfoot expressed her condolences to the family of 8-year-old Ortega, killed by a stray bullet Saturday afternoon in Little Village.
The mayor said it’s almost unspeakable for a family to lose a “precious little girl” in the way that Ortega was killed.
Lightfoot was asked what she’d say to critics who suggest her plan to sue street gangs and seize their assets does not address the immediate tragedy of shootings like this. She said they must do everything they can.
“Everything,” Lightfoot reiterated, also acknowledging many people are frustrated by continuing, senseless gang violence in the neighborhoods.
A reporter suggested many of them don’t see how the mayor’s current proposal, to sue street gangs and seize their assets could affect gun violence like this, but she said it can. She explained taking the profit motive away from the gangs could deter their activities and reduce their ability to buy records.
Lightfoot said the city must use every tool at its disposal to fight street gangs and their violence.
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