Do You See The Light?

Someone is noticing. Actually, a whole lot of someones are noticing:

• A man was shot and critically injured early Friday near the Magnificent Mile — a rare crime for that area.

  The police superintendent called it a “road rage” attack. Other police sources said it was gang-related.

  It happened at 12:33 a.m. on Ontario Street just a few feet away from North Michigan Avenue — the city’s marquee shopping district.

  Violent crime is rare in that area. In the police beat that covers the scene of the shooting — covering about a square mile — there were a total of 108 violent crimes in the past 12 months, none of them involving a shooting, police statistics show. Crimes in the area included just one armed robbery with a gun.

  “When you start having that [violence] in a place where people generally feel safe, that’s when we start becoming Detroit,” said one alderman, who asked to remain anonymous.

We couldn't believe how quick it was leaked that the "victim" was in fact, the aggressor at an incident earlier, and then how the media "discovered" his arrest record was what one would call "extensive." The spin machine was in full force this morning:

• Asked whether tourists, shoppers and area residents have reason to be afraid when they’re out on the Magnificent Mile, McCarthy said, “No, they should not. We are deployed there. We had officers deployed when this happened. Officers work late at night. I was just on Michigan Avenue myself. There are cops all over the place. There’s cops down there everywhere.”

  McCarthy scoffed at the unnamed alderman’s comment likening Chicago to Detroit in terms of violence.

We aren't going to "become like Detroit" because we're already most of the way there. Spin Spin Spin.