Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a five-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
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Top story
In Chicago, handguns easily turned into high-capacity machine guns fuel growing violence
A gun trafficker from the Southwest Side says he’s been cashing in on the latest thing every Chicago gang member has just got to have:
A machine gun.
The man, who has an office job, says he sells illegal machine guns on the side — more than 1,500 in just the past year. Most of the machine guns he peddles are Glock pistols equipped with an after-market auto sear, known on the street as a “switch.” It lets the shooter go from single shots to automatic. The guns also come with extended magazines that can hold 20, 30, even 50 bullets.
“It’s like the new, hot thing right now. It’s what’s trending right now — switches,” says the man, who spoke on the condition that he not be named. “And, if you have a switch, you got to have extended mags or a drum. It’s like hotdogs and mustard.”
The number of switch-equipped handguns and extended magazines seized by the Chicago police has surged over the past several years, an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ and NPR has found. And so has the number of prosecutions by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office involving guns that have been turned into machine guns.
The proliferation of illegal switch-equipped guns has made Chicago a hot spot for what federal authorities say has become a national problem. That’s happened as mass shootings — in which at least four people are killed or wounded — have become more commonplace in Chicago. Federal authorities say they believe the proliferation of these makeshift machine guns is one of the main reasons.
Police Supt. David Brown agrees. Brown told reporters last month: “Switches that make single-action weapons fully automatic as well as the high-capacity magazines that hold more bullets in them with an extended clip has been really the dynamic that’s changed how shootings and how victimization occurs. Not just here but everywhere in the country has seen just an explosion of switches and high-capacity magazines.”
In a case earlier this year, a man holding a pistol-turned-machine gun opened fire a little past 10:30 p.m. May 19 on a crowd outside the McDonald’s on Chicago Avenue at State Street, killing two people and wounding seven more. The 22-year-old has since been charged in that shooting with first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. At a court hearing, a Cook County prosecutor said the man fired a 9mm Glock 19 handgun equipped with an automatic switch and an extended magazine that held 34 rounds.
He shot in bursts and used his other hand to support his shooting arm to keep his gun from jerking up, firing 21 times, according to the prosecutor, who said the man told detectives he’d previously fired a handgun equipped with a switch.
He also told investigators he bought the gun in Indiana and that he could get a switch for less than $25, the prosecutor said.
More news you need
- Magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds or more for handguns and rifles were relatively rare among civilians not long ago. Now, they’re commonplace — despite local bans. Our Stephanie Zimmermann looks into how high-capacity magazines for weapons have become a mass-market item.
- A veteran of the Gulf War in Iraq has been charged with killing a convenience store worker in Rogers Park. Salim Khamo, the 66-year-old store owner, came to this country as a refugee from Iraq nearly 30 years ago, our Tom Schuba reports.
- A federal judge today ordered a southern Illinois couple to each spend 14 days in jail for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The judge said he would allow Christopher and Tina Logsdon, of Sesser, to serve their sentences intermittently, on weekends — and also put both of them on probation for three years.
- Chicago Public Schools has made a deal with a parking company owned by Carmen A. Rossi, a Chicago nightclub owner who has raised money for Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s re-election campaign. Rossi’s Chicago Parking Solutions got a two-year contract to park cars at more than a dozen schools even though the school system said another company put in a better bid. Our Tim Novak and Lauren FitzPatrick look into the details of the deal here.
- Many Chicagoans have been getting into the Halloween spirit this year by decorating their living spaces — and our photographers have captured some of the elaborate, haunting and creative decorations adorning homes across the city. These are our picks for the best Halloween decorations this year. 🎃
A bright one
For West Loop foundry, artist painted a mural of a fiery gator
That giant alligator painted on a wall at 1523 W. Hubbard St. this summer seems to almost smolder with its searing oranges and reds, as if it just emerged from a flaming cauldron.
That’s by design, says the artist, Christian Stanley, given the location — at Universal Electric Foundry, which melts metal and pours it “into molds to make parts for many special uses.”
“We always research the area or building and look for ways to tie in meaning when possible,” says Stanley, 35, who did the mural in August. “The foundry had some pictures online with beautiful glowing metal, and we tried to incorporate some of that heat and glow to the mural as well.”
Why a gator?
“We wanted to bring some Florida to Chicago,” says Stanley, who lives in Orlando.
He says he nicknamed his creature “Chance” and gave the same name to the piece because, while he was painting it, he kept hearing about Chance the Snapper — the gator that was caught in a Humboldt Park lagoon and named for Chicago’s Chance the Rapper.
Stanley says his wife Jessica Stanley helped with painting the mural, which is 52 feet across and 22 feet high, took five days to finish and was done as part of Chicago’s Titan Walls arts festival.
It’s steps away from two other murals done on West Hubbard Street in 2020 for the same festival.
You can find the full story on Stanley’s mural here.
From the press box
- How will the Cubs build the core of their next great team? It’ll be about pitching and homegrown talent, Maddie Lee writes.
- With the Robert Quinn trade, Bears GM Ryan Poles showed discipline that the team’s management had lacked before. “It’s still a rebuild. And Poles is a realist. That’s a key distinction between him and his predecessor, Ryan Pace,” writes Jason Lieser.
- It’s a big year for Caleb Jones. At 25, the Blackhawks defenseman realizes the clock is ticking on his long-awaited career breakthrough. If he doesn’t prove this season, his time may never come, Ben Pope writes.
Your daily question☕
What’s the best Halloween costume you've ever worn?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What is Chicago’s most underrated park?
Here’s what some of you said...
“Calumet Park on Chicago’s East Side. They have wonderful areas to picnic, play sports and you get a great view of the lakefront.” — Maurice Snell
“The north pond in Lincoln Park by the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. A nature oasis in the city.” — Julie Kilzer
“Steelworkers Park on the southern part of Lake Shore Drive. Great views of the skyline and lots of cool things to do.” — Alex Kazmierczak
“Humboldt Park, it’s so beautiful especially right now with all the trees changing colors.” — Candice Martinez
“Shabbona Park — baseball during the Spring. Has a great indoor pool.” — Robert Lisowski
“Washington Park on the Southside especially early spring — the lagoons and water lilies got me through lockdown. I never knew that park was so beautiful.” — Sherronda Bohanon
“Legion Park down through River Park was a great walk when I lived up there. (Peterson to Lawrence).” — Julien Christopher Smasal
“Welles Park on Lincoln. Lots of space to walk. Grab a book at Sulzer Library, go across the street and watch a ballgame, or a bocce ball game. Great place to chill year-round.” — Steven McElyea
“Jackson Park! Beautiful Japanese garden they have in there. We’ve been going there for years. We took our wedding pictures there recently.” — Lisandra Vazquez
“Ping Tom Memorial Park.” — Jen Espino
“Douglass Park. The waterfalls and lagoon animals with plant life are beautiful.” — Jeannette Wachewicz Valtierra
“Milton Lee Olive Park. Perfect views and nicely tucked away.” — Matt Zaiff
“Davis Square Park.” — Nrique Rodriguez
“Sherman Park on the South Side.” — Nate Davis
“Hiawatha Park.” — Angie Opitz
“Nicholas Park.” — Aaron J.
“Most underrated park: Henry C. Palmisano Nature Park, 2700 S. Halsted. In a former quarry, you descend down to a scenic fishing pond. Astoundingly quiet despite being one block from the Stevenson Expressway, this below-ground level oasis is unexpected. As you fish here in the middle of the city, you could be out in the Forest Preserve, instead of on Halsted Street in Bridgeport.” — Roger Deschner
“Berger Park in Edgewater. It’s small and intimate along the lakefront. They have benches where you can sit and read or listen to music while watching the waves.” — Howard Moore
“Eugene Field Park is a public park located along the North Branch of the Chicago River in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. The park is named for author Eugene Field. The park was platted, designed and constructed between 1923 and 1930, with the Clarence Hatzfeld-designed field house completed in 1930 under the auspices of the Albany Park.” — Robert Kastigar
“With its arched stone bridges, Burnham-designed fieldhouse, and moat-ringed ballfields, Sherman Park is like something out of a fairytale and one of the most slept-on parks in the city. — Zachary Whittenburg
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