Chicago police, community groups mobilize to stop expected teen takeovers Friday night
Chicago police and outreach groups were on the ground monitoring for potential teen takeovers on Friday night, after Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city was responding to credible reports of such activity this weekend.
The University of Chicago Police Department also sent out an alert on Friday that there could be a teen gathering near campus at 52nd Street and Lake Park Avenue on Friday. Chicago police also had a heightened presence in Hyde Park on Friday evening.
Streets in Hyde Park were busy as people were out enjoying the warm weather. While there were lots of young people out and about, it was nothing like the teen trends that have made headlines in recent weeks.
Still, police and other organizations were out in Hyde Park, ready to respond.
Meantime, at Rainbow Beach in the South Shore neighborhood, Chicago police squad cars and Steets and Sanitation Department salt trucks blocked entrances, limiting access to the lakeshore.
According to a post shared on Facebook, a teen trend was supposed to begin at Rainbow Beach at 5 p.m., but that large gathering had yet to materialize as of 10 p.m. Friday, and neither had the expected teen gathering in Hyde Park.
The preemptive responses in Hyde Park and at Rainbow Beach highlighted part the response to reports of planned teen trends or takeovers in the area.
In a statement on Friday, Mayor Brandon Johnson urged parents to know where their children are, and warn them of the risks of teen takeovers.
"To Chicago's young people: do not attend these gatherings. They can escalate quickly and carry serious consequences. The Chicago Police Department will enforce curfew and applicable laws, and community violence intervention partners will be on the ground to help keep young people safe," Johnson said.
James Mitchell, field manager of the crisis prevention and response unit at the nonprofit Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, said the organization was among a number of groups aiming to disrupt potential chaos and engage with youth.
"Prevent them from doing victimization or damaging property, and also from getting arrested, but then also explaining to them that there's real consequences for bad behavior; and then making sure we develop that personal relationship, but then try to connect our young people to resources," he said.
Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, managing director of the nonprofit Chicago CRED, also was among those aiming to keep teen takeovers from becoming a problem on Friday.
Another response to teen trends came from Saint Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham. Rev. Michael Pfleger said they are hosting a "Peace Takeover Rally & March" on June 5.
"Let be that the kickoff for saying wherever we're at in this city, our mission's going to be peace," he said.
Pfleger said he hopes being proactive can help reduce the risk of violence, including with takeover events.
"We want the peace takeover to be a thought in the minds of people. We can either have something overtake us this summer, or we can take over and we can set the narrative for the summer," he said.
Friday's efforts to prevent teen takeovers at Rainbow Beach and in Hyde Park came after two teen takeovers over the Memorial Day weekend turned violent.
On Sunday, five police officers were injured when an 18-year-old man drove a vehicle into them in the 1200 block of South Loomis Street as they were trying to disperse a large crowd of teens on the Near West Side.
On Monday night, 53 people were arrested and nine weapons were seized after another teen gathering turned violent near the lakefront in Hyde Park. Police said several hundred people were involved in the takeover, many of them dancing on top of squad cars, and throwing objects at officers as police tried to clear the area. Three teens were shot near 55th Street and Cornell Avenue after the gathering moved from 57th Street Beach across DuSable Lake Shore Drive to Hyde Park near the Museum of Science and Industry.
