Crime is Still Down

And by "down," we mean "downtown:"

• A shoplifter shot a convenience store clerk in the Loop on Friday night, leaving the victim critically injured, Chicago police said.

  The shooting occurred at approximately 10:41 p.m. at the 7-Eleven at 191 West Adams Street, according to police and witnesses. CPD said an unidentified man entered the store, took items from the shelves, and walked out without paying. When the clerk confronted him outside the store, the suspect produced a gun and opened fire, police said.

  The 31-year-old victim was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds to his abdomen and back. CPD said he was in critical condition.

  Officers recovered three shell casings from the sidewalk in front of the store. Bullets also shattered the store’s glass door.

But don't think the rest of the city has gotten off that easily:

• Chicago police are investigating a series of armed robberies that swept through the River North neighborhood early Saturday, including a kidnapping in which two men drove a victim to three different convenience stores to withdraw cash from ATMs.

  That incident, the earliest reported of the night, began around 2 a.m. near the corner of Maple and Dearborn streets. According to a preliminary CPD report, two men lured the victim into a vehicle, displayed a gun, and then made a circuit of nearby stores, ordering him to withdraw cash from ATMs. They eventually released him in River North, but not before taking his phone. The suspects were described only as Black males.

CWB remains just about the only media outlet to provide accurate descriptions of actual offenders.

Remember this when you go to vote on Tuesday.