53 people arrested, 9 weapons seized during large teen gathering in Hyde Park

The long holiday weekend proved to be violent once again, with 37 people shot. Fortunately, no one was killed.  

Among those shot were three teenagers shot in Hyde Park, not far from where a teen gathering turned violent on the lakefront.

Police say they are still looking for the suspect who shot the teens, but Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) said that before things got out of hand at 57th Street Beach and moved into the Hyde Park neighborhood, officers confiscated dozens of weapons, including tasers, guns, knives, and bear mace.

Chicago police on Tuesday said that 53 people were arrested, and nine weapons were recovered. 

Police say 21 of those people, including 10 juveniles, were charged with disorderly conduct for failing to obey a lawful order to disperse. One other juvenile was charged with disorderly conduct for breach of peace.

Seven other people, five of whom are juveniles, were each charged with a misdemeanor count of reckless conduct.

Ten people, including eight juveniles, were charged with various misdemeanor charges, including resisting or obstructing a peace officer, battery, criminal trespass to land, and possessing ammunition without a valid Firearm Owners Identification Card.

Thirteen other people, ages ranging from 14 to 28, received felony charges for possessing a weapon and battery. Police said charges are pending against one more person.

Hyde Park resident Gilda Norris saw the chaos outside her apartment building.

"They were out there deep," she said.

She said she saw more than a thousand teenagers near 55th Street and Everett Avenue on Monday evening.

"The kids definitely outnumbered the police, and there were a lot of policemen," she said.

Police said several hundred people were involved in the takeover. The rowdy crowd is seen fighting, dancing on top of squad cars, and throwing objects at officers as police tried to clear the area.

Ald. Yancy says it all started at the beach. That was where the teen trend that he and CPD officers were aware of was pre-planned.

"My understanding, the flyer went out mid-last week," Yancy said.. "There were 12 police districts on site yesterday, which you think would have been able to help prevent what happened yesterday, but unfortunately, things got out of hand, and people were hurt."

Three teens were shot near 55th Street and Cornell Avenue. An 18-year-old and two 19-year-olds were standing outside when shots rang out.

Police released an image of the man on Tuesday, believed to be the shooter.

Yancy says the shooting was connected to the teen takeover as it spilled into the Hyde Park neighborhood.

"It's my understanding that as CPD looked to move most of the people off of the beach and off of the point, they ended up moving into the neighborhood, and the shooting took place really just a block away from here," he said.

That shooting is just two blocks from where Norris grabbed her phone and started recording the teens surrounding her and other neighbors' cars.

"I saw them going around my car, and my neighbor, they was jumping his car," she said. "So that's why I went outside, sat in my car, turned on the lights to keep them from destroying my car."

Former Chicago police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio says that with police under a microscope, officers can be apprehensive about taking action.

"It's very volatile, and it's very challenging for the officers, because they don't want to use too much force," he said. "No one wants to be that next viral video on TikTok."

Riccio said that is why teens and other people feel they can get away with incidents like the gatherings and takeovers, and other incidents such as when a car rammed into a CPD police SUV downtown a few weeks ago, and when five officers were hurt over the weekend after the driver of a blue sedan plowed through a group during a large gathering on the city's Near West Side.

"This kid is lucky he didn't get shot and killed, and we would have been the bad guy," said Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, Chicago police.

Catanzara spoke with CBS News Chicago after the driver in the Near West Side incident, Rashad Johnson, 18, had his first court appearance on Tuesday.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said members of the City Council are drafting a parent accountability ordinance.

Riccio says he hopes the city gets a handle on these takeovers early and holds the 53 people accountable in the end.

"Are there court dates for these 53 individuals, and what's the disposition going to be when they are in court?" he asked.    

When asked what can be done to prevent the gatherings from happening again, especially since this isn't the first teen takeover in Hyde Park, Yancy said social media accounts should be held accountable so the flyers can't float around on different platforms.

"I'm frustrated," Yancy said. "I'm frustrated and I'm aggravated, because young people are getting hurt, communities are being destabilized, and at the end of the day, social media companies are winning, because they're the ones pushing this trash out to young people, and they're reacting to it."

Ald Brian Hopkins (2nd) added that he expects the parent accountability ordinance to be introduced in the next day or two.