At least seven people have been killed and dozens more injured in a series of shootings across Chicago since Friday evening, police said, as President Donald Trump took to social media on Sunday to criticize Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for not accepting a National Guard deployment.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump questioned why Pritzker had not called for federal help, and said he could make Chicago safe in one month. “Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!,” the president wrote in a Sunday post.
The shooting toll marked one of the bloodiest periods in the city in recent months, even as Chicago police data shows violent crime rates have generally declined over the past few years. Preliminary police information indicated at least two dozen shooting incidents since 5 p.m. Friday.
Among the broadest of those incidents, a mass shooting on a city street on Friday evening — Juneteenth — wounded 12 people as an SUV pulled up and two people inside started firing. Police said eight men and four women, ranging in age from 17 to 47, were struck and taken to four hospitals.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned the violence in a post to X on Saturday. “What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” Johnson said. “Violence has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
Pritzker has repeatedly rejected earlier federal proposals to deploy the National Guard in the state, and sued to block a Trump administration deployment last year. A representative for the governor did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the president’s latest remarks.
A recent study by the nonpartisan Niskanen Center found that the National Guard’s presence in Washington, D.C., has had minimal effect on violent crime, countering Trump’s assertion that the capital — which has had a continuous Guard presence — went “from one of the worst, to one of the safest cities in the U.S.”
Earlier on Friday, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama opened the first visitors to his presidential center on Chicago’s South Side. The event included musical performances from John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Bruce Springsteen and drew former presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush.
Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett said Trump was not invited to the opening, but noted the center would welcome him for a tour if he wished to visit.