Gov. JB Pritzker met and posed for a photo with a South Side anti-violence worker several days before the man allegedly took part in a Mag Mile smash-and-grab robbery that killed a man on his way to work.<\/p>\n
Court records show Kellen McMiller had four outstanding arrest warrants when he stood next to Pritzker Sept. 5 at Public Equity, an Englewood nonprofit that aims to reduce gun violence in part by intervening and mediating conflicts.<\/p>\n
McMiller is among seven people charged in the Sept. 11 smash-and-grab at the Louis Vuitton store at 919 N. Michigan Ave., where a crew made off with nearly $700,000 in stolen merchandise, according to police and prosecutors. The 35-year-old \u201cpeacekeeper\u201d allegedly was in one of the cars that sped from the robbery and hit an SUV driven by 40-year-old Skokie resident Mark Arceta, who died soon after, authorities said.<\/p>\n
McMiller, who was hospitalized after the crash, faces charges of first-degree murder, burglary and retail theft, along with his six co-defendants. CWBChicago first reported he had met Pritzker days earlier. Pritzker\u2019s office featured their photo together in a news release after the governor\u2019s visit but later removed it.<\/p>\n
In a statement, a Pritzker spokesperson said the governor \u201cmeets hundreds of people in communities every week and is often asked to take photos. \u201cWe were extremely troubled to learn that this individual was arrested for his alleged involvement in this serious crime, and we expect them to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The Governor will keep doing everything in his power to fight crime, keep our neighborhoods safe, and support community violence intervention, which have been proven to work,\u201d Pritzker\u2019s office said. \u201cFor example, the Peacekeepers Program has a strong track record reducing violent crime by 41% over the past two years and providing community members with a path towards rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four warrants had been out for McMiller\u2019s arrest, including in Florida, Indiana, and Wisconsin, court records show.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Thursday, leaders of Chicago CRED, a violence intervention group, said more than \u201c1300 men and women work in the Peacekeepers program, serving 31 Chicago neighborhoods and nine Cook County suburbs. Because many of them are justice-involved individuals who have experienced severe violence-related trauma, they sometimes make poor choices that can lead to tragic consequences. With that in mind, we are constantly enhancing our screening practices and additional supports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Pritzker hailed his Illinois State Police security detail as he has faced a rising numbers of threats with political divisions deepening nationwide. \u201cThey\u2019ve done a terrific job of keeping my family safe,\u201d Pritzker said Monday. \u201cWe have the best executive protection unit in the country.\u201d In a statement, Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi said the Democratic governor \u201ccan continue to grandstand about President [Donald] Trump\u2019s initiatives to tackle crime in cities, but he is proving President Trump right everyday with the show of complete incompetence he puts on display.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump has threatened for weeks to send the National Guard into Chicago to fight crime, despite the fact that violent crime rates have fallen steadily in Chicago in the last few years. \u201cGov. Pritzker would rather do a photo op with fugitives to bolster his leftist bona fides than do the work it takes to even figure out if his previous anti-violence programs he\u2019s funding \u2026 are being co-opted by law breakers,\u201d Salvi said. The Trump administration has moved to cut funding for community violence intervention programs, which studies have shown can be effective in decreasing shootings.<\/p>\n
The incident highlights the complexities and challenges faced by community violence intervention programs and the importance of thorough screening and support for individuals involved in these programs. It also underscores the political divisions and differing approaches to addressing crime and violence.<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Incident Gov. JB Pritzker met and posed for a photo with a South Side anti-violence worker several days before the man allegedly took part in a Mag Mile smash-and-grab robbery that killed a man on his way to work. Background on the Anti-Violence Worker Court records show Kellen McMiller had four outstanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fa1e08a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1120x639+0+0\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F45%2Fa5%2F1f457a294891bbca77c9f30e0fbf%2Fmcmiller.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28624,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions\/28624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}