“Nothing says ‘Stop Gun Violence!’ like violence against low prices!” So begins a post at Twitchy concerning a group of Chicago teens who trashed a Walmart during Wednesday’s national walkout to protest gun violence.
The youths responsible for the mayhem were students from Simeon Career Academy, a vocational school that is 98.5% black. One of the students from the school explained during an interview with Fox affiliate WFLD:
They told us we could come outside for 17 minutes. And we just took it upon ourselves to go over there to Walmart — and they got out of hand.
According to the report, police are still trying to identify the dozens of students responsible for the damage, which was extensive. They say between 40 and 60 vandals trashed parts of the store, which is across the street from their school. Product displays were knocked over, items were yanked from shelves, and packages were broken. Some of the teens additionally stole small items like chips and candy.
Reporters spoke with Alderman Howard Brookins, who was instrumental in getting the big box retailers to move to the South Side. “We’ve worked too hard to try to get these national retailers here in our community. And this doesn’t help us. It makes no sense to tear up the community which you call home,” he said on camera.
Chicago Public Schools meantime released a statement that reads in part, “We are very concerned by these allegations and we are reviewing the matter.”
