Statement From Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot
“I want to commend the Chicago Police Department and the hardworking detectives for working swiftly to apprehend and bring to justice the four individuals responsible for the heinous murder of Police Officer Aréanah M. Preston. Their diligent efforts have removed violent, repeat offenders from our streets. If you examine each individual’s history, it quickly becomes a case study on the failure of our criminal justice ecosystem to protect our communities from harm. It is unacceptable that it took the murder of a police officer for these individuals to finally be brought to justice. I continue to call upon the entire ecosystem of the criminal justice system to take the necessary steps to ensure that individuals with an undeniable history of violent and dangerous behavior are kept off our streets. The residents, brave officers, and victims of violent crimes who live and work in our city should not fear being harmed by people who are known to us to have committed violent acts over and over again.”