CHICAGO (AP) — A spate of shootings in Chicago has led to at least seven deaths and 38 injuries since Friday evening, police say, prompting President Donald Trump to renew his call for a military intervention in the nation's third-largest city.
“Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!” Trump said in a Sunday morning Truth Social post.
The office of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender who has repeatedly rebuffed Trump's calls for a military intervention, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under Trump, National Guard troops have been deployed on crime-fighting missions in Democrat-led cities including New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and Memphis, Tennessee.
While Chicago Police Department data shows a slight uptick in shooting incidents compared to the first half of last year, violent crime rates have generally dropped in the city over the past few years, in parallel with national trends.
Preliminary information shared by Chicago police indicate there have been at least two dozen shooting incidents since 5 p.m. on Friday. Those killed by gunfire include a 21-year-old shot in the chest Sunday, an 18-year-old shot in the armpit Saturday evening and a 50-year-old shot in the chest Friday.
At least 12 people in a crowd on a Chicago street suffered gunshot wounds Friday evening after an SUV pulled up and two people inside started shooting, police said.
The eight men and four women in the group ranged in age from 17 to 47. They were being treated at four hospitals. Police said another man suffered unknown injuries and refused medical treatment.
That shooting happened on Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. Earlier Friday, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the first visitors to his presidential center on the South Side.
“What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an X post Saturday. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.”
“Violence has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable," he said.
Other major U.S. cities experienced gun-related violence over the weekend. In Philadelphia, two people were killed and two others wounded following a shooting early Sunday morning, according to Fox-29. In Cincinnati, a shooting killed three people Saturday evening, WLWT reported. And police in Kansas City, Missouri say they are investigating a shooting Friday evening that left one dead and five wounded.
Associated Press writer Jack Brook contributed from New Orleans.
FILE - The Chicago city skyline is seen Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Deeply divided voters in Colombia are choosing their next president in a runoff Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of a renewed internal conflict.
The options before voters are business owner and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31 vote.
Both are pitching strategies that they say will prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, that Colombians lived with in previous decades.
De la Espriella is proposing a heavy-handed approach that has earned him the endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump. Cepeda is promising to continue Petro’s efforts, including attempts at establishing dialogue with multiple illegal armed groups even though those efforts have largely failed.
The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country’s struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.
“Right now, what worries me is the polarization that exists between us: there are two very extreme sides, and the violence is concerning,” John Manrique, a lawyer in the capital, Bogota, said as he walked his dog.
“What I hope is that people accept who won,” he added. “Let’s accept it, regardless of the side, and try to reach a social consensus. … Let’s not go out and fight.”
In the first round, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella garnered 44%, according to official results. Petro, without evidence, sowed doubts in the results after Cepeda, who had consistently lead polls ahead of the May vote, did not win outright and even finished behind de la Espriella.
Petro reiterated his allegations on Sunday.
“We must protect the vote, undoubtedly,” he said shortly before polls opened.
His movement will provide details about “all the accounts and funds that were transacted from abroad,” Petro added. Actors, whom he did not identify, “tried to enslave the people of Colombia by taking away their freedom to decide.”
More than 41 million people are eligible to vote. Polls will remain open until 4 p.m.
Yolanda Hernández, 49, voted early Sunday before she started selling black-ink pens outside a Bogota voting center. Clients, she said, buy the pens because ink cannot be erased from paper ballots, which reduces the possibility of fraud.
Hernández, who recycles trash for a living, voted for Petro in 2022, but cast her ballot for de la Espriella this time. While she acknowledged that Petro was unable to deliver on promises meant to help the poor because of congressional gridlock, she said Colombia cannot afford another four years under his vision for the country.
“We want change in Colombia because it’s always the same violence, always the same thing,” Hernández said. “(Petro) said he was going to lower the cost of services, that he was going to lower the price of food, and everything is more expensive.”
The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government.
But violence has since roared back, particularly as most rebel groups abandoned their ideologically driven fight for the financial benefits of drug trafficking.
Last year, authorities recorded 14,780 homicides, the most since at least 2015 and driven by clashes among illegal armed groups. Among those killed was conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. Extortions have also soared, reaching 13,417 cases in 2025, more than double the number tallied in 2015.
De la Espriella, a political newcomer nicknamed “The Tiger,” has promised to fiercely go after criminals and build 10 mega-prisons, emulating the policies of El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele that have lowered homicide rates but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.
Cepeda wants to carry on Petro's fraught signature plan to achieve “total peace” by negotiating pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs. The heavily criticized strategy that Petro kicked off in 2022 took until Thursday to see the first armed group — one with about 100 members — give up its weapons and begin a resettlement process that will lead to their reintegration into civilian life. Colombia's illegal groups have more than 27,000 members.
Fernando Lozano, 34, decided to vote for the first time in a decade because of the vastly different proposals between Cepeda and de la Espriella, particularly the latter's intentions to face off with armed groups.
“Anyone would think it’s not a bad thing to be able to end all this once and for all. But it’s not as easy as it seems,” Lozano said, adding that the combative approach already failed before and could only lead to more violence if tried again. “You can’t just go there and confront them and expect everything to be resolved in six months. That takes years.”
The lead-up to the runoff has seen an increase in verbal attacks between the candidates as well as accusations of fraud, vote-buying and intimidation.
Cepeda filed a complaint with the Colombian Attorney General’s Office and the International Criminal Court against de la Espriella, accusing him of having ties to paramilitary groups. De la Espriella has denied the accusation.
Voters line up during the runoff presidential election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro shows a ballot during the runoff election in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A voter waits in line with her dog, which is wearing a Colombia soccer team jersey and has its face painted as a tiger, at a polling station during the runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the opposition Defenders of the Motherland movement arrives to vote with his family during the runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
A voter wearing a national soccer team jersey waits for his turn to cast his ballot during the runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella stands before supporters from inside a bulletproof booth during his campaign rally in Buga, Colombia, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Supporters of presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella attend his campaign rally in Buga, Colombia, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Historic Pact coalition presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda waves during a campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Supporters of Historic Pact coalition presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda attend his campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
