Escalating violence in Chicago: By the numbers
A look at the growing violence in Chicago and what lawmakers and police there are saying about it
Maxwell Little was canvassing a Chicago neighborhood in support of an alderman candidate who's spoken out about the city's gun violence epidemic -- when suddenly Little found himself a victim of that violence.
Little was streaming on Facebook Live on Sunday telling his viewers about Joseph Williams, a candidate in the 15th Ward, when multiple gunshots suddenly rang out. The 32-year-old campaign volunteer looked over his shoulder and fled, stopping the camera.
Little was shot once in the leg by a masked man, he said in a Facebook post later. The shooting occurred just before 2 p.m. Sunday in the West Englewood neighborhood and an arrest has not yet been made, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Little said he is “blessed and thankful to be in the land of the living,” but he contends the shooting was not random.
“Someone wanted me dead,” he said on Facebook. On social media, Little goes by the name Maxwell Omowale Justice, according to WLS-TV.
Williams told WLS he’s been in contact with Little and is praying for his recovery.
“It should have never happened. He is an innocent bystander who is coming out to do something good,” Williams said.
Ald. Raymond Lopez, who currently represents the area, said gun violence in the city needs to be “confronted and addressed directly and without excuses.”
“Campaign or not, it is completely unacceptable and unfortunate that someone would feel compelled to shoot at someone simply because they didn’t recognize them from the community,” Lopez said. “This is the same type of mindless gun violence we have seen in other neighborhoods.”
Little has already been released from the hospital, Williams told WLS.
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