54 shot, 8 dead in Chicago over weekend: ‘A lot of the problems are internal’

Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page says issues with the mayor’s office, police department, police unions and community support groups need correction in the Windy City.

The Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) decision to strip an officer of his police powers was a result, in part, of the man’s ownership of a house on the city’s South Side where gunmen killed five people and injured three others, the agency’s top cop said Monday. 

CPD Superintendent David O. Brown said there were “multiple reasons” for the discipline against Enrique Badillo Sr., linking the decision in part to the June 15 fatal shooting. Brown would not elaborate on why such a drastic step was taken against Badillo for his ownership of a building.

The investigation is ongoing, but no arrests had been made as of Monday, police said at the time. Authorities have said they believe someone broke into the house and shot eight people; four of them died at the scene and a fifth died on Saturday. All of the deceased victims had been shot in the head, police said.

Even before the mass shooting prompted the department to strip Badillo of his police powers, there were questions about the building and his ownership of it, according to previous reports. Police had responded to numerous calls about disturbances at the residence, Brown said at a news conference last week.

In November 2019, police responding to a call of a person shot at the residence found a man had been injured by gunfire. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that officers found shell casings and dice on the floor, and a witness told officers that there were at least 50 people at a party where people were drinking and playing dice when shots rang out.

That shooting prompted an inspection by the city’s building department that revealed a number of building code violations and the city filed a “public nuisance” lawsuit. But the lawsuit stalled because city officials were unable to reach the building’s owner until after last Tuesday’s shooting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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