CITY HALL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel abruptly ended his post-City Council news conference Wednesday after an emotional explosion over the shooting of a 6-year-old girl in Englewood the previous day.
Emanuel lashed out at "thugs" and "gangbangers," calling for criminal prosecution of those responsible.
"This beautiful child," he said, "shot in the stomach because a bunch of thugs were shooting at a bunch of other thugs."
Calling it "the worst nightmare of a parent," Emanuel said he had visited the mother of Tacarra Morgan, 6, shot in Englewood Tuesday.
"Thank God she's not going to lose her life thanks to the great medical work and the doctors and the nurses at Comer Hospital," Emanuel added. "But her life will be different."
Emanuel said three generations of the family had been "enjoying a summer evening in Chicago" on their front porch when their lives were shattered.
"Now, I would like to know when the debate and the discussion is going to those who are pulling the triggers?" Emanuel said, his voice cracking. "When people say enough is enough, when is enough enough?
"This is a child of Chicago," he added. "Where is the outrage and the condemnation and moral outrage about a bunch of gangbangers shooting at other gangbangers without a sense of responsibility or accountability?
"The gangbangers need to know there's consequences — both morally and legally," Emanuel said. "There are too many guns, too few values and not a sense of consequence to the actions that you take."
Emanuel made reference to the need for stronger gun laws, saying, "There's not a weekend our officers aren't putting their lives on the line," and pointing to people arrested with "a criminal record that's longer than 'War and Peace.'"
Emanuel emphasized that "the ability to have guns and any kind of gun, the ability to use them without consequence, and a criminal-justice system in which those who are using guns are repeatedly put back on the street — that's wrong."
Emanuel immediately marched out of the news conference without additional comment.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), whose ward includes the shooting scene, called a community rally for people "to come out in a show of strength and unity" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of 60th Street and Pulaski Road.
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