'Teen Takeover:' Group of teenagers jump on car in Chicago

Hundreds of teens gathered in Chicago over the first warm weekend of the year in so-called “teen takeovers” that resulted in violence and destruction, officials said.

Late Friday, hundreds of youths gathered at 31st Street Beach, where a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg, per reports. On Saturday night, hundreds of teen gathered in the Loop in downtown Chicago, and two boys were shot.

A 16-year-old boy shot in the arm and a 17-year-old boy shot in the leg were both transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, per reports. More than a dozen individuals were arrested, mostly for reckless conduct, and a 16-year-old boy was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, per reports.

A video shared by Instagram user @thehangrylilbrunette shows crowds of teens running in the street and disrupting traffic on Michigan Avenue near Millennium Park. Teens can be seen surrounding and jumping on top of a vehicle.

Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot set the blame on parents for their children’s “reckless, disrespectful and unlawful” actions over the weekend.

“Most importantly, parents and guardians must know where their children are and be responsible for their actions. Instilling the important values of respect for people and property must begin at home," Lightfoot said.

Last year, Lightfoot pushed the weekend curfew for minors from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. A separate order banned minors from Millennium Park after 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson in a statement Sunday condemned the teens’ behavior, but warned they have little else to do in the city.

"In no way do I condone the destructive activity we saw in the Loop and lakefront this weekend,” Johnson wrote. “However, it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.

“Our city must work together to create spaces for youth to gather safely and responsibly, under adult guidance and supervision, to ensure that every part of our city remains welcome for both residents and visitors.”

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[traceymisik]

Why did they open up the zoo doors?? Disgraceful!!😡🤬😡🤬

[michaelngfinance]

Stop public transit for 24 hours. Let their parents pick them up.

[mrs.hancock]

Should be an automatic disqualification of welfare benefits to any parent who’s “youth” are participating in this chaos.

[DevastationOccursNow]

As a black person, I feel ashamed to see others act like a whole zoo

[bil]

Looks like there all the same color .
Interesting…

[tappy-thesketcher]

An an African I must admit this is disappointing to see

[Necromonger]

Group of Black teenagers, they forgot that part.

[vintagerc]

Lock Them Up
No accountability brings Anarchy

[delmarpainter]

Where are the water cannons when you bend them!

[justaghost]

Bunch on animals only if the car would have drove off would have been great

[canbehr]

I’m live in Chicago and I would have driven my car right into all of those teen. No cap

[jakiejake]

Bus them all to Mayor Brandon’s house so he can show them empathy and counsel them all!

[paulburick]

Someday their car will be a jumping mat

[locolol]

Who causing racism? Prejudice?
Respect if u wanna get Respect!

[bikesandstories]

back in my day growing up my momma would have tore my ass up broke my Playstation 2 and locked my ass in my room for a month if I did some shit like that

[joanb]

What a disgrace, no regard for property and peoples lives

[cherylmccray]

Wth throw everyone In jail, there's no excuse for this foolishness, where are the parents

[LawOfficeOfJamesRElliott-lxsm]

If that was my car, I swear there would be a lot of sad parents that day.

[dietmarstahl]

US is starting to get out of control. Greedy business take all money and leave no more room to live.

[blaynecarver]

And we should put more tax dollars into THIS community?