Voices across Chicago and the nation expressed alarm on Saturday after two shootings in the Loop following the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting left a 14-year-old boy dead and eight other people, nearly all juveniles, wounded.
Officials said officers arrested 18 people and recovered five firearms during what authorities described as widespread mayhem in the downtown area after the ceremony.
Video circulating on social media showed a group of young people beating and robbing an apparent teenage victim in the Loop during Friday’s mayhem. As the boy curled up on the ground, someone pulled off his winter coat. Moments later, as he struggled to his feet, another individual cold-cocked him in the face, sending him staggering down the sidewalk…