CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Chicago alderman said he won’t be intimidated by gangs after his home was vandalized Wednesday night.
"This is gang intimidation. This was meant to send a message," said 15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez.
This, he said, came after he confronted a landlord, who has a gang member tenant, who has been shooting and terrorizing a nearby block.
"While we were on that block, four other households of gang members came out as a show of support for their comrade that we were addressing. One of them being so bold as to say that I don't make the decisions in the neighborhood. That they decide whether if there will be peace or not. It is not accident that this happened. This has only made me more resolute to put an end to gang terror in our neighborhoods," Ald. Lopez said.
"What I think this shows is the lengths that gang members will go to, and while this is a singular incident, there are families we have seen every weekend, every week that are dealing with the same violence, the same sort of intimidation, the same form of basically domestic terrorism in our midst, feeling helpless."
He is using the Troubled Building Ordinance, holding landlords accountable for their tenants.