Sgt. Little is a decorated veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that
parts of Chicago are comparable to what he saw in combat.
Chicago is in the grips of a deadly gang war. At least 275 people
have been killed in the city so far this year and many more have been
shot, many of them innocent bystanders to the gang violence. Among the
latest victims were 12- and 13-year-old girls shot Tuesday night. They
survived. Sgt. Matt Little leads one of the teams in
Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit. There are about 200 such officers in
the city-- versus 100,000 gang members.
"Almost all the
violence we're seeing now is from the gangs," Little said. "When there's
a shooting we'll respond to the shooting. We'll figure out where we
believe the most likely area for retaliation is and we'll work that area
trying to both prevent retaliation and possibly build a case on
offenders."
CBS News rode along with Little's team as dusk fell on poor neighborhoods of vacant lots and high anxiety.
"The
gangs have lost their hierarchy, so to speak, and without a chain of
command, there's really nobody keeping things in check," Little said.
The leaders are mostly in prison -- or dead. Those left are young,
reckless, and often terrible shots.
CONTINUE...
Sgt. Little is a decorated veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that
parts of Chicago are comparable to what he saw in combat.