After a father and son had been murdered whereas grappling with a gunman who robbed their Little Village jewellery retailer on Saturday night, elements of the web lit up with wild theories. Some posts blamed federal immigration brokers for a supposedly gradual police response, saying native residents are afraid to name 911 due to ICE. Different posts even claimed the brokers dedicated the murders themselves and escaped in an SUV with Texas plates.
However surveillance video and police dispatch information present these viral claims aren’t true.
On Sunday morning, a Chicago Tribune reporter posted on X that “Witnesses say their lifeless our bodies lay on the bottom in the course of the road for a number of minutes earlier than anybody referred to as the police.”
The publish added a quote from native resident Dolores Castañeda: “The neighborhood doesn’t belief the CPD—even much less now that we’re being terrorized by ICE, they usually appear to be defending the brokers as a substitute of the neighborhood.”
By Monday morning, the publish had greater than 294,000 views, greater than 1,500 likes, and 528 retweets—many from journalists and high-follower accounts.
“Individuals are so afraid of ICE that they received’t even name 911 to report a homicide,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote in a retweet that has gained than 122,500 views.
However surveillance footage and dispatch audio name the publish’s claims into query.
Video posted by Chicago Critter exhibits the killer getting out of a white automobile and strolling into the household’s retailer within the 3800 block of West twenty sixth Avenue at 5:48 p.m. Simply 14 seconds later, he runs out, chased by one of many victims. The second sufferer follows and the three males run into the road as drivers attempt to keep away from hitting them.
The taking pictures begins seconds later, and at 5:49 p.m., the shooter dives again into his white automobile and speeds away.
As CWBChicago reported Sunday morning, 911 calls flooded in at that actual second—5:49 p.m.—from a number of witnesses describing individuals shot, vehicles fleeing, and folks firing weapons on the street. There’s no indication that the victims had been left mendacity there for any size of time earlier than witnesses referred to as for assist.
And, for the sake of argument, if individuals had been too afraid to name 911 due to ICE, why did so many calls are available directly? Did everybody immediately recover from that worry in the identical second, or had been all of them reacting to the identical violent scene that was unfolding in entrance of them?
One other rumor gaining traction exhibits a white SUV with Texas plates and suggests the individuals inside had been ICE brokers who killed the 2 victims.
“It’s very unusual {that a} Truck with Texas license plate was seen leaving after the taking pictures. Is that this ICE killing our individuals?” Baltazar Enriquez Sanchez requested in his Fb publish, which has been shared greater than 400 occasions on Fb and numerous occasions as a screenshot on Twitter.
Sadly for these shopping for into that rumor, there was an error in CPD’s preliminary press launch concerning the murders. The company mentioned the gunman “entered a white SUV and fled,” however surveillance video makes it clear that the killer’s automobile wasn’t an SUV in any respect, and the automobile seen within the Fb publish appears to be like nothing just like the automobile the killer used.
One factor that isn’t a rumor: Cook dinner County Crime Stoppers has provided a $10,000 reward for info resulting in an arrest within the case.
Anybody with ideas can name 1-800-535-STOP or electronic mail TIPS@cookcountycrimestoppers.org. Nameless tipsters obtain a code quantity to assert the reward if their info proves useful.
