After a father and son have been murdered whereas grappling with a gunman who robbed their Little Village jewellery retailer on Saturday night, components of the web lit up with wild theories. Some posts blamed federal immigration brokers for a supposedly sluggish 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 midst 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, and so they 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 terrified of ICE that they gained’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 reveals the killer getting out of a white automotive and strolling into the household’s retailer within the 3800 block of West twenty sixth Road 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 automotive and speeds away.
As CWBChicago reported Sunday morning, 911 calls flooded in at that precise second—5:49 p.m.—from a number of witnesses describing folks shot, vehicles fleeing, and folks firing weapons on the street. There’s no indication that the victims have been left mendacity there for any size of time earlier than witnesses referred to as for assist.
And, for the sake of argument, if folks have been too afraid to name 911 due to ICE, why did so many calls are available in directly? Did everybody abruptly recover from that concern in the identical second, or have been all of them reacting to the identical violent scene that was unfolding in entrance of them?
One other rumor gaining traction reveals a white SUV with Texas plates and suggests the folks inside have 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 folks?” Baltazar Enriquez Sanchez requested in his Fb publish, which has been shared greater than 400 instances on Fb and numerous instances 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 stated 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 seems to be nothing just like the automotive the killer used.
One factor that isn’t a rumor: Prepare dinner County Crime Stoppers has provided a $10,000 reward for data resulting in an arrest within the case.
Anybody with ideas can name 1-800-535-STOP or e-mail TIPS@cookcountycrimestoppers.org. Nameless tipsters obtain a code quantity to say the reward if their data proves priceless.
