“As teen takeovers grow increasingly brazen, and with the summer approaching likely to spiral out of control, Chicago is in need of penalties for those who engage in violent mob actions. Make no mistake, these public disturbances are a direct product of city leadership refusing to ensure that there are consequences for the disruption, damage to property, and the disrespect and often endangerment of police. The mayor’s talk of ‘systemic causes’ is nonsensical excuse-making.”

CPD said officers were on foot trying to shut down the incident when a blue sedan ran into five of them. After hitting the officers, police said the car drove over the curb and came to a stop after crashing into a CPD vehicle, pole and a fence.

“He has said, you can never arrest your way out of issues in neighborhoods to solve crimes,” Ald. Ray Lopez said, referencing remarks Johnson delivered Thursday. “And that message reverberates with these teens who are now erupting in neighborhoods all across Chicago, trying to become social media famous at the behest of the mayor who supports their antics.” Local lawmakers are now pushing to criminally charge parents whose children were tied to the crimes, but Johnson has stopped short of endorsing the proposal.

The ordinance, filed last week by Aldermen Raymond Lopez, Anthony Beale, James Gardiner, Anthony Napolitano and Brendan Reilly, cites the continuing existence of a city hiring freeze implemented by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration last summer.

CPS took out $1.6 billion in those short-term loans for fiscal 2026 operating costs such as payroll and basic expenses, plus a $246 million loan to support the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund. That borrowing is expected to cost $34 million in interest, according to a March report to the Chicago Board of Education.

As of 8 p.m. Monday, the sole death of the weekend — which runs from 5 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Tuesday — came after a toddler fatally shot himself Sunday, according to Chicago police. At least 26 others were shot and injured over Memorial Day weekend, an uptick after 2025 saw the city’s least overall violent Memorial Day weekend since at least 2010.