Quinn open to deploying State Police to Chicago to curb violence
BY JON SEIDEL Staff Reporter September 21, 2013 4:38PM
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn
Updated: September 23, 2013 6:08PM
Gov. Pat Quinn is willing to discuss sending in reinforcements from the Illinois State Police to help Chicago authorities deal with the violence, after a mass shooting Thursday night left 13 people injured, including a 3-year-old boy.
The governor “stands ready” to talk with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and law enforcement officials in Chicago “about the possibility of providing additional Illinois State Police reinforcements to help stop the violence,” Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said Saturday.
Quinn told reporters earlier in the day he hadn’t spoken yet with the mayor or Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
“If they want to speak to me about that,” Quinn said, “I’m certainly always willing and able to sit down.”
McCarthy said after the shooting it was a miracle no one was killed when a gunman sprayed at least 16 rounds of 7.62mm bullets from an assault weapon into Cornell Square Park in Back of the Yards.
Though no one was killed, the shooting attracted national attention, putting Chicago back in the spotlight for the city’s gun violence.
The mayor flew back from a Washington fund-raising trip Friday, and the White House pledged to keep pressing Congress to pass “commonsense measures” to combat gun violence.
