Prosecutors in Illinois have reportedly chosen not to charge five gang-related suspects in a deadly shootout that unfolded in Chicago, despite police wanting to charge all five with murder and aggravated battery.

The Friday shootout was sparked by an internal dispute between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers gang, an internal police report and a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told reporters.

When authorities went to serve the arrest warrants on the five men, a SWAT team response was necessary leading to police finding more than 70 shell casings. One shooter was left dead and two of the suspects wounded.

By the end of the weekend, however, they were released without charges.

“‘Mutual combatants’ was cited as the reason for the rejection,” a police report of the State Attorney’s office’s decision read. The report also noted that the suspects weren’t cooperating with investigators.

“Mutual combat” is a legal phrase defined as a “fight into which both parties enter willingly, or in which two persons, upon a sudden quarrel, and in hot blood, mutually fight upon equal terms.”

But while the police report was reviewed by the total of the Chicago media, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office issued a statement saying the evidence was insufficient to meet a burden of proof to approve felony charges.

“It’s just like the Wild West,” the police source told reporters of the gun crimes on Chicago’s West Side.

A similar “mutual combat” incident also unfolded in a near-west Chicago suburb last week after an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death in an incident caught on film.

Why This Is Important

So, evidently, in Illinois – and specifically in Chicago – when two gangbangers start shooting at each other because they both engaged in shooting, there isn’t a crime. This is a stunning abdication of prosecutorial duty on behalf of the Cook County State’s Attorney.

This should serve as an explanation for the elevating and bloody violence that now owns the streets of Chicago. The politicians, not the police, are delinquent in their duties.

As an aside, Chicago has among the most draconian gun laws in the United States. Why the Cook County State’s Attorney didn’t charge these five people with illegal possession of a firearm is a head-scratcher.

By not prosecuting obvious criminals – and in the case, murderers – the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office should be considered complicit in the crimes committed. The families of the dead should sue that office to affect the State’s Attorney’s removal from office.

But we all know the Cook County State’s Attorney. Her name is Kimberly Foxx. She is the one who looked the other way and refused to bring Jesse Smollett to trial after he faked a hate crime to opportunistically further his acting career.

But that’s not the half of it. Foxx has a long track record of both downgrading and dropping charges against some of the most violent gang members on the streets of Chicago.

The president of the Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, Kevin Graham – his board of directors, area police chiefs, and the president of the Sergeants Association by his side at a press conference, said:

“We are here with one united voice to demand the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx…We have taken a vote – both in the police chiefs associations and with the FOP – of a vote of no confidence in Kimberly Foxx…This is not just about the Jussie Smollett case, which undermined the public confidence and law enforcement faith in Cook County criminal justice system. This is about many cases in the Cook County system that have gone unprosecuted or having charges reduced.  The people standing around me can give you countless examples of how Ms. Foxx’s lack of prosecution has caused our members and police officers throughout this country an enormous amount of problems.”

Every week on Monday news outlets from coast to coast issue the casualty numbers from Chicago for the weekend. The deaths, the shootings, the blood, just keep coming. And the reprobate politicians on Chicago – from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who pathetically makes excuses for her inaction and ineptitude on the issue, to Foxx, to many of the go-along-to-get-along Democrat politicians who have driven a once-proud city into the ground – are to blame, one-hundred percent.

Visiting Chicago with my girlfriend just two Christmases ago, I wanted to show her the beauty and culture that Chicago has to offer. I wanted to take her to the jazz clubs, the restaurants, and the lakefront. I wanted her to experience the Chicago Symphony and the museums. I wanted her to see the different neighborhoods and the Mag-Mile.

But a childhood friend, whose family owns restaurants in the city, warned me off. “Frankie,” he said, “they are pulling people out of their cars in front of the Art Institute and shooting them in the head in broad daylight. I don’t go downtown anymore. You should take her to the city. It’s too dangerous.”

A pox on the houses of the opportunistic Democrat politicians who are literally killing one of the world’s great cities. To them, scoring political points with the special interest crowds, i.e. the LGBTQ+ and BLM contingents, is more important than making sure children don’t get shot going to school or playing in their yards.

Simply put, the proud Democrat Party of the Daley’s is dead. Today’s Democrats have blood on their hands.

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Frank Salvato is the executive partner at The CompassPoint Group, LLC. He is the co-host of the  Underground USA podcast as heard on iHeart Radio, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, and anywhere podcasts are heard. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. His analysis has been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times, National File, and Accuracy in Media, and is nationally syndicated. Mr. Salvato appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel and is the author of six monographs examining internal and external threats facing our country. He can be heard twice weekly on “The Captain’s America: Third Watch” radio program syndicated nationally on the Salem Broadcasting Network and Genesis Communications affiliate stations.

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