The recent looting of Chicago downtown was “organized criminal activity,” with people planning ahead enough to bring U-Haul vans and equipment to help them ransack stores, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
The hundreds of looters – described by officials as ‘auto-caravans’ full – who made Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast and Irving North on Sunday morning during Monday night were part of a ‘planned attack’, Lightfoot told TIME for a interview published Wednesday.
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“When people appeared on downtown Michigan Avenue with U-Haul trucks and lorries, and sophisticated equipment used to cut metal, and the methods used, and how fast it was spun , “Lightfoot told the outlet,” that was not a spontaneous reaction. “
More than 100 people have been arrested so far as a result of the plague. Police said at a Monday press conference that officials believe the events were fueled by a police-involved shooting in Englewood earlier in the day.
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At the scene of the Englewood shooting, “tempers flared tanks due to misinformation when the afternoon turned into evening,” said Superintendent Chicago Brown of the Chicago at the time. The false information included that a child was shot, and that the injured man was on the ground when police shot at him, according to several previous reports.
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Police later discovered social media posts encouraging downtown placement, officials said Monday.
“Sure, there are people who participated who were motivated by many different reasons, and certainly were motivated by posts on social media that encourage people to get downtown,” Lightfoot told TIME . “But the core of what happened – that’s organized criminal activity … It was a planned attack.”
Earlier this week, a U-Haul spokesman told Fox News that the company’s equipment was designed and intended for people to use during residences. The company is now working with authorities.
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“Customers who use our equipment are expected [to] follow local, state and federal laws. Any violation of these laws is also a violation of the customer contract and our policies, ”the spokesman said in an email. “U-Haul uses a robust investigative unit that works closely with law enforcement to see that persons engaged in criminal activities involving our equipment are taken prisoner and brought to justice.”
