SE Illinois News

Illinois state Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) is calling out lawmakers for allowing the Safe-T Act to continue its planned enactment on Jan. 1.

He took to Twitter with his concerns about the nearing implementation of the bill.

“As of January 1st this would be a catch and release crime, if police had the resources to even catch them……” Niemerg said.

Niemerg’s comment was in response to a tweet by radio host Dan Proft which included an excerpt from a Sun story about a terrifying random shooting. 

“The woman included a picture with her story. It showed a gaping bullet hole on the outside of her left calf. ‘VOTE THESE CLOWNS OUT OF OFFICE OR WE WILL ALL BE PAYING THE PRICE FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS,’” Proft tweeted an excerpt from CWBChicago's report.

Proft linked to a story about a shooting at Aberdeen Restaurant in Chicago where an SUV opened fire. “The shooter rolled down the window [of an SUV] and yelled, ‘What the f*ck are you looking at?’ before unloading a clip into a group full of innocent people,” CWB Chicago reported. 

An Aberdeen manager who was the only victim shot in the incident later posted about the story on social media. She noted that “They were screaming and arguing for close to two minutes while stopped at the stop sign.”  Prior to the incident, the patio was full, "and people were watching this altercation the entire time," according to her. She also recalled that "The male in the back left seat [of the SUV] saw everyone watching and proceeded to scream out the window at us, asking WTF we were looking at over and over again.”

She said the bullet wound could have been deadly and luckily was "the only one who got shot. And luckily I am still alive." The manager noted that the bullet hit her lower left calf "and just missed my bone and an artery.” 

In her post, she underscored that the "post isn’t to gain sympathy or pity" but "It is to call out this wild west city that Chicago has become. It is to call out the people who are in charge. The ‘leaders’ who should be doing something.”

During the tenure of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, who oversaw the implementation of rules resembling those in the Safe-T Act, Chicago's crime rate increased significantly. Shootings and other crimes are happening more frequently in Chicago, and they are increasingly affecting the adjacent suburbs. Murder rates in recent years have exceeded those in 1994 and risen to previously unheard-of levels. Only 2022 saw an increase in all three types of thefts—burglaries, thefts, and auto thefts, Chicago Sun-Times reported.