McCarthy: "We're handcuffing the police and emboldening criminals"

FOX 32 NEWS - Sixty-eight people were shot in Chicago during the four-day holiday weekend, eight of them fatally. That’s more than twice as many people shot over the same period last year.

"You know we've already hit 700 murders in this city. That's an 85 percent increase from two years ago,” said Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

McCarthy says there's another worrying trend - the number of times police officers come under fire.

On Sunday night, Chicago police were pursuing 33-year-old Richard Grimes. They say Grimes had shot his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach and then began firing at officers as they gave chase.

Grimes was eventually killed by police gunfire. His family said they don't know what triggered his outburst.

"He had recently lost his job, has two kids, daughter and son and his fiancee was pregnant....who was due soon,” said Patrick, Grimes’ uncle.

It's the third police-involved shooting of the weekend and the fourth in the past ten days, which former superintendent McCarthy says can be traced to the social and political backlash over the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

"We're handcuffing the police and emboldening criminals. These guys have no fear of the police so far as turning on them with a firearm. And these officers have to protect themselves,” McCarthy said.

As per police policy, the officers involved in Sunday night's shooting will be put on administrative duty for 30 days while the Independent Police Review Authority reviews the case.