Ssshh...don't tell anyone about shootings in Aurora!
***SEE UPDATE BELOW
At the SAME time Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, Chief of Police Greg Thomas and Aurora's wild spending Finance Committee are pushing a "bonus" scheme that would cost hundreds of thousands and implement bad public policy over a "zero murder" number stat for last year, six youth were shot.
At the SAME time Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, Chief of Police Greg Thomas and Aurora's wild spending Finance Committee are pushing a "bonus" scheme that would cost hundreds of thousands and implement bad public policy over a "zero murder" number stat for last year, six youth were shot.
The victims are ages 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 19, including boys and girls, at an incident last Wednesday night at 11:40pm on the near east side in the 600 block of North Avenue.
None died. One was released days later after being hospitalized in serious condition.
The incident happened the same day local newspapers were reporting on the city's finance committee unanimously approving the bonus scheme and Chief Greg Thomas was participating in a publicity stunt with Sen. Dick Durbin in Chicago on reducing "gun violence."
News on the shootings was not released by the city until several days later on Monday and no explanation has been given for the delay.
It's also not clear if the six shooting victims are eligible for a $500 bonus for not dying and messing up the mayor's crime and police exploiting scheme.
Based upon current "trends" this means shootings for 2013 will increase over 2012.
But, don't worry about these pesky shootings of SIX youth at once. Crime is down, according to the mayor.
***UPDATE - CITY SAYS SIX TEENS BEING SHOT NOT A "SERIOUS" CRIME AND MAKES EXCUSES FOR WHY NEWS WAS HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC DURING PUBLICITY SPREE BY MAYOR AND CHIEF
As questions have swirled around the failure to share news on six teens shot, Marie Wilson of the Daily Herald reports:
***UPDATE - CITY SAYS SIX TEENS BEING SHOT NOT A "SERIOUS" CRIME AND MAKES EXCUSES FOR WHY NEWS WAS HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC DURING PUBLICITY SPREE BY MAYOR AND CHIEF
As questions have swirled around the failure to share news on six teens shot, Marie Wilson of the Daily Herald reports:
The first news reports of the shooting did not emerge until Jan. 14.
"We don't do news releases on all of our shootings. We do news releases on the most serious ones and the ones (in which) we're looking for assistance," Ferrelli said. "Frequently, releasing information too fast can actually hinder an investigation. That's another thing that goes into the timing of news releases."
Ferrelli said police release information in accordance with all state statutes and maintain a press board where members of the media can review arrests, traffic reports and information about other criminal occurrences, including shootings.
The Jan. 9 shooting is at least the second such case in Aurora this year. In a separate case, three men were shot Jan. 5 in a dispute that broke out during a custody exchange. Ferrelli did not have a total count of people who have been shot in 2013.
The violence comes as the city reflects on 2012, its first year without a murder since the 1940s.
Mayor Tom Weisner has proposed giving a $500 bonus to each of the police department's 289 sworn officers for their efforts that helped lead to a year without murders. The bonus proposal is likely to come before the city council at 6 p.m. Jan. 22.
Some online critics are suggesting the police department purposely withheld information on the Jan. 9 shooting because officials were still discussing the murder-free year in the media.
Ferrelli said political considerations did "not at all" play a role in the police decision not to send a news release about the shooting. He said information was not made readily available because most of the injuries were minor and because police already have leads to pursue.
10 comments:
Even the Beacon says they the APD/City hid the news until Monday.
Damn, if that's true and they were just waiting to see if the one victim dies, then both Greg Thomas and Tom Weisner should resign immediately!
If they were innocent victims/bystanders, I'm very grateful they survived. If they're gangbangers, I don't care. I've felt for a long time that we should give gangbangers marksmanship lessons to make sure they hit the right target. As long as they're taking each other out, it's fine w/ me. For that matter, instead of a $500 bonus to the cops, how about a $500 bounty on gangbangers.
Can you die from being shot by a bb gun?
The answer to your question is theoretically yes, although highly unlikely. BUT the incident Openline talked about in the post is a separate one from the guys driving around in a car w/ a BB gun. This incident was a shotgun fired into a house. Could have been just one shot that hit all of these kids.
This fails to include the three that were shot the week before
The chief and mayor should tell the citizens of Aurora how many people were shot in 2012.
I'm not sure which is worse. The fact we have boneheads as mayor and city council members who waste our money or that we have boneheads who vote for them.
Chief Greg Thomas and Weisner should both resign. There's no excuse whatsoever for failing to make sure the public knew about the shooting.
Crime lab up on Ohio St tonight the Beacon hide all the crime stories must be true all those people did get shot. The Beacon, Russell, and Lulay are in he Mayors back pocket
I've said it once and I'll say it again, this bonus is against the Police Department's General Orders which forbids Officers from accepting gratuitie
So, Weisner's spokesman now says six teens being shot isn't serious? Unbelievable.
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