60+ Fires, 10 Killed by gunshot over Independence Day weekend

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More fires than Devil’s night in Detroit

In just 10 hours beginning at 8 p.m. on July 4, more than 60 fires broke out in houses, garages, cars, trash cans and a vacant furniture store. Two fire trucks crashed and another (Engine 27) broke down en route to a burning house as the city continues to rely on an aging, worn-down fleet of rigs.

The fires were more frequent and destructive than any period during the past five Devils’ Nights, according to aMotor City Muckraker analysis of fire data.

In those 10 hours, fires burned:

22 houses
1 commercial building
2 garages
6 cars
9 dumpsters
21 brush, piles of rubbish (not counted in final tally)

During the 12-hour period, more than 80% of the house fires were suspicious. The blazes were bigger and more destructive than Devils’ Night, spreading to at least five neighboring houses, in part because the city didn’t have enough functioning fire engines and trucks to send out.
Steve Neavling (2015 July 6) 60+ fires broke out overnight on July 4 in Detroit, surpassing Devils’ Night. Motor City Muckracker

Chicago – no police involved shootings

Shootings over the Fourth of July weekend left 10 people dead and 55 others wounded, a toll lower than last year but one marked by an intense stretch of gun violence over eight hours on one of the nights.

The violence peaked from dusk Saturday until dawn Sunday, when 30 people were shot across Chicago — nearly half the total for the entire weekend, measured from 3 p.m. Thursday until just before dawn Monday.

Peter Nickeas (2015 July 6) 10 killed, 55 wounded in Fourth of July gun violence in Chicago. Chicago Tribune

Second City Cop points out there were other 4th of July homicides:

A 27-year-old man was fatally struck by a vehicle that sped away after the crash Sunday morning in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side.About 5 a.m., John Perry was struck by the vehicle in the 1100 block of South Francisco, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The vehicle sped away after the crash.

Considering that the offender (a pissed off girlfriend) had to drive over a 10-inch curb, chase the deceased down the sidewalk and run over a wrought iron fence to kill him, well, that kind of stretches the meaning of the word “pedestrian” to the breaking point. That’s a homicide.

(2015 July 6) Hiding Numbers Again? (UPDATE) Second City Cop.