Chicago politicians will do nearly anything to combat violent crime except the obvious solution—arrest, charge, convict and jail violent criminals. In fact, some of their remedies to the city’s murder problem are quite interesting, although not exactly effective.
According to a recent report from NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), a “violence interrupter” working for CeaseFire Chicago was recently arrested, convicted and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for, you guessed it, violent crime with a handgun. In this case, it was a string of brazen carjackings that left one victim suffering from a gunshot wound and others threatened at gunpoint.
The sentence was handed down to 23-year-old Jamari Edwards, who admitted in April to carjacking three people during a single week in August 2022. Edwards also pleaded guilty to federal firearm charges tied to the crimes.
A report at cwbchicago.com tells more details of the story.
“Prosecutors said the first hijacking occurred on August 6, 2022, in the drive-thru lane of a Dunkin’ Donuts,” the website reported. “Edwards got into the passenger seat of a man’s car, pointed a gun, and ordered him out.
“As the victim walked away, prosecutors said, Edwards asked the victim why he was not scared, then shot him in the leg. Moments later, Edwards circled back, frisked the wounded man at gunpoint, and took his wallet and phone before driving off in the victim’s car.”
According to the report, the victim struggled to get help after nearby businesses and customers initially refused to call 911. He eventually reached a gas station where an employee summoned an ambulance.
Two days later, Edwards confronted a driver outside a gas station, pressed a gun into the man’s back and stole his vehicle. Later that week, Edwards and an accomplice targeted a woman sitting in the driver’s seat of her car at the same gas station. After pointing a gun at her and telling her he would blow her brains out, he yanked her out of the vehicle by her necklace and stole her purse, wallet, phone and car.
Despite the defense asking for the mandatory minimum sentence, the brazen and escalating crime spree convinced the judge to sentence Edwards to 22 years in prison.
If it sounds like Edwards wasn’t exactly a model citizen, note that this was not the first time CeaseFire Chicago “violence interrupters” chose to commit violence rather than interrupt it, according to NRA-ILA.
“Over the past few years, numerous employees of CeaseFire and other similar organizations have been arrested and/or fired after being accused of violent crimes across the city,” the NRA-ILA report stated. “Just within the past few days, Illinois Governor Pritzker was pictured with a “peacekeeper” who at the time was wanted in four states on active criminal warrants and shortly before the individual allegedly participated in a fatal smash-and-grab burglary. Also, three workers, who supposedly worked to end gun violence in Chicago, were charged with illegally carrying guns while they were already on bond for other felony gun cases. One of the men’s cases included allegations that he shot at two people.”
Read the full article here
