Summer teen violence feels like déjà vu for many in Chicago, including St. Sabina parish member Tiffani Ricks-Cooper.
Early Saturday morning, she stood on the parish steps protecting the building after shots rang out from a drive-by shooting during after-prom party at a nearby home that overflowed into the church parking lot.
“I don’t want that to be the image, not just of this neighborhood but of this world,” Ricks-Cooper said.
The shooting injured 7 teenagers with the most serious being shot in the leg and the chest. The victims range in age from 17 to 19. As of Monday, no arrests have been made, and Chicago police have not released a description of the suspect car.
“It starts at home,” Ricks-Cooper told NBC Chicago.
When the shooting happened, police were already in the area trying to break up the crowd.
“I see the police and all of the police cars trying their best to get these kids to go home. They didn’t want to listen,” Ricks-Cooper said.
The party was reportedly promoted on social media.
“Some kids didn’t even know, they just came. Because they heard. Word of mouth,” Ricks-Cooper said.
Ald. David Moore of the 17th ward said he supports the idea of a snap curfew for teens, which has stalled in city hall after several iterations.
The latest version of the ordinance, introduced by second ward Ald. Brian Hopkins, would give Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling the power to declare curfews for public spaces expected to be impacted by large groups of teens which many have dubbed “teen takeovers.”
The measure passed 10-7 out of the Committee for Public Safety. The full council is expected to take up the issue again during its next meeting June 18.
“In this case, snap curfew wouldn’t have helped. But it may help somewhere else,” Moore said. “The police were already on the scene doing their job.”
Ald. Moore expressed both sadness and frustration with Saturday’s violence.
“I prayed for those youth and thank God all of them survived,” Moore said.
Ald. Moore said he is in support of the latest snap curfew ordinance but wants input from young people to improve it and is in conversation with Ald. Hopkins before the final vote.
After the party, Ricks-Cooper and her husband spent the morning cleaning up the trashed parking lot.
“You’re either going to be part of the problem or part of the solution and I choose to be part of the solution,” Ricks-Cooper said.
They filled around seven garbage bags.
“To see the church stairs have liquor bottles on them, blunt packs, weed packs. Plus, this is my community, I didn’t want to come outside and see it,” Ricks-Cooper said.
June happens to be Gun Violence Awareness Month, a reminder of the work Ricks-Cooper says she plans to keep doing. She and Fr. Michael Pfleger walked around the neighborhood Sunday handing out fliers offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest of the shooter.
They also asked to speak with parents or adults, to urge them to be more involved so that teens aren’t out in the middle of the night.
“We didn’t get to see with any parents, any adults. And that’s the thing,” Ricks-Cooper told NBC Chicago.
Every Friday night in the summer, Fr. Pfleger and St. Sabina lead peace walks through the neighborhood. They begin June 13, and the message is geared heavily toward young people.
Ricks-Cooper is pleading with adults to be part of the solution too.
“We need the parents to parent. They’re your children, not your friends.”
