McLean County Times

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) slammed Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson over his comments regarding mob violence in Chicago.

A former prosecutor, Rose said he's "not going to condone one minute what happened Saturday" and "will certainly not going to dignify" Johnson's comments about it. He said he stands with law enforcement.   

"People like Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson... are tying the police's hands behind their back and then pretending what happened Saturday night is no big deal, nothing to see here," Rose said. "You know what, the whole world saw it, the whole world saw it. It wasn't exactly a welcome to Chicago postcard.” 

Rose’s comments, including saying that "terrorizing tourists is not an economic development strategy," came after Johnson spoke to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday. 

"Demonizing children is wrong. We have to keep them safe as well," Johnson said, FOX 32 Chicago reported.  

Johnson excused away the mob violence, chalking it up to being “silly.” 

"They're young. Sometimes they make silly decisions,” Johnson told legislators. “They do. And so we have to make sure that we're investing so that young people know they're supported. And we also have to make sure that police officers who put their lives on the line have the resources that they need to keep us safe.”

Over two incidents on Friday and Saturday last week as many as 1,000 teens flooded into parts of Chicago and torched cars, smashed windows, and attacked people. Three were shot during the two days of mob violence.

In one video a group is shown cornering a man and woman and then brutally beating them. 

“Victims of violent Chicago ‘Teen Takeover’ attack (video below) speak out, reveal that no arrests have been made. The victims stated that the attack was completely unprovoked and unexpected. ‘Everything went crazy… They said they were going to kill us…’ Chicago is only going to get worse,” Collin Rugg, Co-Owner of Trending Politics, said on Twitter.