Mourners arrive for funeral of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera
Mourners, including police officials from across the state, started to arrive before noon at Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park for the funeral of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, the first such ceremony in 2025 for a CPD officer killed in the line of duty.
By 11:30 a.m., hundreds of Chicago patrol officers lined the driveway of the Forest Park shopping center where the center is located. They walked single-file around a large parking lot as piano music merged from inside the church. An American flag fluttered from a crane parked at the mouth of the driveway.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson were in attendance along with department leaders.
Rivera, 36, a CPD officer for four years, was assigned to a tactical team in the Gresham District (6th) when she was mistakenly killed by her partner which chasing a suspect. She is survived by her adolescent daughter.
On June 5, Rivera and her team attempted to detain a weapons suspect in the 8200 block of South Drexel. That person ran into a nearby apartment, and Rivera and her team gave chase, police previously said. The officers were met inside by two other people, one of whom allegedly pointed a gun at Rivera.
Rivera's partner, apparently standing behind her, fired a single shot, striking her in the back. With no time to wait for an ambulance, other officers placed Rivera in a CPD squad car to take her to University of Chicago Medical Center. During the drive, though, the police vehicle somehow caught fire and Rivera was transferred to another squad car. She was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said she was shot once in the back. Her death was ruled a homicide, though her autopsy report hasn't been finalized. A CPD incident report stated Rivera was shot in her left flank, presumably near an opening in her bulletproof vest.
In the chaos following the gunfire, the three people in the apartment were able to, briefly, evade police. Two were soon taken into custody, and one man, Adrian Rucker, was charged two days later. Rucker, 25, had six warrants at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors. He was charged with armed violence, use of a firearm without a firearm owner's identification card, possession of a fake ID and drug possession. He was ordered held pending trial.
Last weekend, authorities announced charges against the man who, police say, was the subject of the initial street stop that sparked the shooting. Jaylin Arnold, 27, was charged with armed violence, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance. Like Rucker, he was ordered held pending trial.
Less than a year ago, another officer in the Gresham District, Enrique Martinez, was fatally shot while on-duty less than a half-mile from where Rivera was shot.
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Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Chicago braces for deadly July 4 weekend as Fox News analyst takes action in brother's unsolved murder
Chicago is bracing for another violent 4th of July weekend as Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell continues to fight for answers in his brother's 2022 murder in the Windy City. More than 100 people were shot over the holiday weekend last year, 19 of whom were killed, following a years-long trend of violent crime that threatens the city on Independence Day. The issue of violent crime in Chicago hits close to home for Caldwell, whose 18-year-old brother, Christian Beamon, was one of two people killed and two others injured in a shooting on Chicago's South Side on June 24, 2022, in an attack that was not intended for him, according to the Chicago Police Department (CPD). "When tragedy hit, I had no idea that that door would be knocked on — never wanted that door to be knocked on — but because it was, and because I happen to be in a place where I have access to contacts people don't normally have, certainly, this has [received] a lot of attention in the press," Cadlwell told Fox News Digital of his brother's unsolved murder. Caldwell, who published a book this week titled, "The Day My Brother was Murdered: My Journey Through America's Violent Crime Crisis," told Fox News Digital that he felt called to write a book about his experience trying to solve his brother's murder after going three years without answers. CPD told Fox News Digital that its investigation into Beamon's murder is ongoing, and no one is currently in custody in connection with the fatal shooting. "I realized just how much help was needed … after experiencing this tragedy in my own family. I didn't know the great difficulties I would experience days after my brother's tragic murder. He was an innocent kid, never accused of doing anything," Caldwell said. "The police have continuously mentioned that he wasn't a target. And there's so many families who have [similar] experiences, as well." The book also details the murders of other innocent Americans killed in violent crimes across the country on the same day of Beamon's murder and features commentary from Fox News host Sean Hannity, "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh and Dr. Drew Pinsky. "Enough is enough." "On June 24, 2022, there were 150 people murdered on that very day across the country," Caldwell explained. "So many people have lost potential in their own families, and, unfortunately, that potential lies in graveyards in their cities. Enough is enough. That's why it was time to write this book." While awaiting answers from authorities, Caldwell has turned his grief into action. He has offered a $250,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of everyone involved in Beamon's murder, and he also founded the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety, a nonprofit "working to create a more secure America through crime prevention, public safety initiatives, and victim support." "We know that there is a crime crisis, but there are solutions to it in cities that have worked. Miami is an example, which has the lowest homicide rate since the 1950s. … So, there are ways to get it done," Caldwell said. "There just has to be a focus, and it has to [be] for places like Chicago, which has had a violent crime problem historically. They just need brave leadership. People are willing to go in, not just for the sake of being re-elected or for making money or some kind of fame, but for the people." Caldwell himself said he is interested in pursuing a mayoral run to help bring policies to Chicago that would prevent violent tragedies like the one that took his brother's life. "Enforce the laws that are on the books. In some cases, enhance the laws. Don't create laws like the SAFE-T Act in Illinois, which allow[s] for people who are accused of murder to have ankle monitor bracelets," Caldwell said. "It is going to take, again, brave elected officials who are willing to stand the call, not be concerned about their poll numbers or be concerned about being re-elected. These are individuals who are there for the people, not for themselves." The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2023, overhauled Illinois' justice system with provisions that granted more freedoms to defendants and reduced certain felonies to misdemeanors. It also lowered the severity of some misdemeanors, like trespassing, and eliminated cash bail across the state. "When I started the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety at … we supported Nathan Hochman for [Los Angeles] District Attorney, somebody who's strong on crime, believes in fairness and justice, but treating the criminal just like they are, a criminal. And those are what I think many Democrats on the left are not … willing to do. They're not willing to stand up and be brave and say, no, enough is enough. We gotta be tough," the Fox analyst said. The June 24, 2022, shooting that killed Beamon on the 11400 block of South Vincennes Avenue also left an 18-year-old woman dead, a 31-year-old man in critical condition and a 25-year-old woman in "fair" condition with a gunshot wound to the leg, according to CPD. An unidentified male offender entered a black sedan and fled the scene eastbound after the shooting, CPD said. Chicago reached a 25-year high in homicides in 2021, when it recorded 804 killings. Since then, that number has steadily fallen to 695 homicides in 2022, 617 homicides in 2023, and 573 homicides in 2024. Last year marked the first time in five years since the Windy City recorded a homicide total under 600. Of the 573 homicides recorded last year, CPD's Bureau of Detectives cleared 319, representing a clearance rate of 51.7% — the highest since 2019. Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor's office for comment. Caldwell and his brother were two of nine siblings who grew up in a low-income household in Chicago. The Fox analyst has repeatedly criticized the city's soft-on-crime policies that allow repeat offenders back on the streets. Born in 2004, Beamon was the youngest of the siblings and had just turned 18 in 2022. Caldwell previously told Fox News Digital that Beamon and his other younger brothers are like sons to him as the oldest sibling. Cook County Crime Stoppers is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects involved in the shooting that left Beamon dead.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Stonewall Uprising: A Look at Transgender Activists Who Led the Movement
The Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ+ rights fight, occurred 56 years ago and sparked a movement led in part by two transgender activists: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. The Stonewall uprising began after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, sparking protests and pushback from the local LGBTQ+ community. Johnson and Rivera emerged as two community leaders from the movement, though there is debate about their exact involvement during the protests. Earlier this year, the Trump administration sparked backlash after removing references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website. Meanwhile, the Pride Month display at the Stonewall National Monument excluded transgender pride flags this year, according to ABC News. LGBTQ+ activists have raised concerns about attempts to erase the history of transgender activists this year. The exact history of Stonewall is complicated, and accounts from participants have varied over the years. Who exactly threw the first brick at Stonewall, for instance, has been debated, and there remains no clear consensus on the question. Still, Johnson and Rivera emerged from Stonewall as two of the most prominent leaders in New York's LGBTQ+ community who would shape the movement for decades to come. The uprising began early on June 28, 1969, when patrons at the bar fought back against police harassment during a raid. The riots continued for about six days and drew national attention to the LGBTQ+ rights cause. Johnson had said she was not at Stonewall when the uprising began and showed up a bit later. But she was among the most prominent participants in the days-long riots, resisting police after they raided the bar. In one well-reported account of the riots, Johnson climbed up a lamppost to drop a heavy object onto a police car. Rivera, who was 17 years old at the time of the riots, had also said that she was in attendance, although some historians have questioned whether she was present at Stonewall on the first night of the riot. Historian David Carter wrote in 2019 for The Gay City News that activist Bob Kohler, who was present at the riots, told him Rivera was not at Stonewall. But the debate about who was at Stonewall when is "pointless and silly," Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States, told Newsweek. He said it's important to look at the activists' work after Stonewall, such as the founding of Street Transvestite Activists Revolutionaries (STAR) and the first halfway house for young gender non-conforming individuals. STAR was an organization founded in 1970 by Johnson and Rivera to support transgender people. It was an early activist group for trans rights that went on to inspire others in the movement. At the time, notably, the term "transgender" was not in use, so the term "drag queen" was used to describe Johnson and Rivera, though they are considered to be transgender. They had also used the term "transvestite," which is now considered outdated or offensive by many, despite its historical use. Héctor Carrillo, a professor of sociology and sexuality & gender studies, told Newsweek it is "not automatic" that all drag queens at Stonewall would think of themselves as transgender, as the trans movement "didn't crystallize until the 1990s." While activists like Johnson and Rivera are now recognized as pioneers of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, at the time, the transgender community was not "idolized" by many gay and lesbian people, Bronski said. "Back then, often the queer community, the more mainstream queer community, was not particularly open to trans people, and for some reasons—if trans people went into a bar, police might be likely to raid the bar. Trans people were more hassled on the streets by police," he said. Vincent Stephens, an associate dean of diversity and inclusion at Boston University's College of Arts & Sciences, told Newsweek activists like Johnson and Rivera were "integral to really being at the forefront of liberation." After Stonewall, groups like the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) were founded to advance the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, he said. But those groups had many "internal fissures" that caused women and people of color to break off. This led to the creation of STAR. "In many ways, they were integral to articulate the needs and concerns of gender nonconforming people," Stephens said. "They also exposed in many ways a tension within the queer community, which is that some people who were very focused on concerns of gay men and the concerns of lesbians but weren't necessary addressing concerns of gender-nonconforming people. STAR is an early example of gender non-conforming people organizing and saying, 'We are integral to this.'" The two continued working on causes including AIDS and homelessness throughout their lives, as well as remaining active in the battle for LGBTQ+ rights. This year's anniversary of the riots comes as many in the LGBTQ+ community see setbacks in a legal sense, as well as a shift in public opinion against gay and trans rights. The Trump administration's removal of mentions of the transgender community from the Stonewall National Monument website is among those concerns. Bronski said the erasure of the transgender community cannot be viewed "in isolation." Those who oppose gay rights have realized they cannot push for the eradication of the gay community from public life, but could still "focus on the most vulnerable of those people, which is trans community," he said. "I think it's really telling that they didn't get rid of all of LGBT, but just the T. I think they knew that getting rid of LGB would cause complete outrage, but you can get away with getting rid of the T because there's enough ambivalence and lack of understanding about transgender people," he said. A key part of the legacy of Stonewall is remembering that 1969 wasn't all that long ago, Stephens said. "Many of the fights that LGBTQ+ people have been fighting are relatively recent fights, and the fight is not over," he said. "We have to think about the long-term vision for how we want to exist as human beings and as contributors to society. Stonewall reminds us that we have to sometimes get up, take risks and advocate for ourselves." Every movement "needs a moment," and Stonewall is that for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Bronski said. While LGBTQ+ Pride Month has become "very commercialized," it's still important to remember the deeper meaning behind the role of power in society and how that can harm people. "There is a great lesson to be learned that what happens to the most vulnerable people can happen to anyone," he said. Héctor Carrillo, a professor of sociology and sexuality & gender studies, told Newsweek: "The Stonewall Uprising acquired enormous cultural symbolism. It came to be seen as marking the beginning of the LGBTQ movement, even when there had been other instances of gay and lesbian protest before. Those include the Mattachine Society's picketing and the Compton Cafeteria riot in San Francisco in 1966. GLAAD criticized the Trump administration's move to remove references to the trans community from the Stonewall National Monument website in February: "The Stonewall Uprising – a monumental moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights – would not have happened without the leadership of transgender and gender non-conforming people. The tireless work of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans women of color paved the way and continue to inspire us. You can try to erase our history, but we will never forget those who came before us and we will continue to fight for all those who will come after us." Related Articles Gay California Lawmaker Blasts 'Inflammatory' Pride resolutionCouple Gets Pride Doormat, Neighbor Writes a Letter: 'Don't Like That'Map Shows Where Gay Marriage Would Be Banned if Supreme Court Overturns LawWoman Gets Message From Dog Walker-Realizes It Wasn't Meant for Her 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown is getting ICE agents hurt
New tactics are being met with rising public resistance and desperation from suspects facing ICE detention and deportation. Masked agents. Terrified suspects. Emotions running high as screaming crowds press in, cell phone cameras in hand. Amid surging immigration enforcement across the country, federal agents are being hurt and hospitalized as they make increasingly public – and risky – arrests of people they believe are undocumented. White House officials say there's been a 500% increase in assaults on agents, as President Donald Trump's massive deportation campaign ramps up. Administration officials say bold tactics are needed to repel what they call an "invasion" of immigrants. But policing experts say the aggressive approach is provoking unnecessarily dangerous encounters. In a recent incident in Nebraska, a female ICE agent was thrown to the ground and choked by an accused Tren de Aragua gang member who said he was formerly a Venezuelan soldier, according to court documents. The suspect escaped and was later captured with the help of local police. Bystander videos have captured agents wrestling suspects to the ground on crowded streets and chasing them through farm fields. One widely circulated video showed an agent grabbing a U.S. citizen by the neck in a Walmart parking lot as he resisted being taken; federal prosecutors have charged the man with assault after he allegedly punched an agent. "Just this week, an ICE officer was dragged 50 yards by a car while arresting an illegal alien sex offender," Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary, told USA TODAY. "Every day the men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens." Trump, who has promised to deport 1 million immigrants this year, ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history." In a June 15 social media post, he also said: "Every day, the brave men and women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment and even threats from radical Democrat politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our mandate to the American people." Art Del Cueto, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the union's 16,000 members welcome Trump's tough new approach to immigration enforcement. Detainees are increasingly fighting back, he said, because they know there's no escape: "That's why you're seeing attacks on agents." 'It's not about public safety anymore' But there's growing pushback from the public. Recent immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area sparked widespread protests and small riots downtown, as people threw rocks at law enforcement and set patrol vehicles on fire, and federal agents responded with tear gas and pepper spray. In some cases, federal agents are getting into shoving matches with crowds trying to film or stop what they consider to be overzealous detentions, especially when the masked agents refuse to identify themselves. Policing experts say ICE agents are exacerbating tense situations with practices that many American police departments have largely disavowed. While there's little objection to detaining violent criminals, masked agents descending upon Home Depot parking lots to arrest day laborers and food vendors – most with no criminal record – sparks panic. "The aggressive police tactics being employed by the federal government are causing the issue," said longtime police supervisor Diane Goldstein, who now directs the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, which has spent decades working to develop trust between the public and police. "Their direction and their leadership is directly putting them in a horrific situation," she said. The ICE tactics on display are a dramatic departure from how cautiously ICE agents previously worked, said Jason Houser, a former Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism official. Houser is an Afghanistan combat veteran who was ICE chief of staff during the Biden administration. Previously, ICE agents prioritized serious criminal offenders for arrest, Houser said. A team of agents might work for days or weeks to surveil a single subject before making an arrest carefully timed to minimize risks to the public and to agents themselves. ICE agents are trained to "think about prioritization of public safety, risk and removability," he added. Internal Justice Department training programs stress that police agencies should focus on de-escalation whenever possible and avoid making arrests in public areas, especially when there's no imminent threat to public safety. "Now we have political quotas: 'Give me 3,000 arrests' (per day). And all gloves are off," Houser said. "It's not about public safety any more." Before Trump, assaults were on the decline An increase in assaults on officers and agents this year would reverse a three-year trend of declining incidents, according to internal Department of Homeland Security statistics. Despite millions of daily interactions with the public, it was rare for ICE, customs officers and Border Patrol agents to get attacked on the job. The agency logged 363 assault incidents in fiscal 2024, down from 474 incidents in fiscal 2023 and 524 in fiscal 2022, according to DHS data. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes both customs officers and Border Patrol agents, has 45,000 law enforcement personnel and is the nation's largest law enforcement agency. Additionally, ICE has roughly 6,200 deportation agents on staff. White House officials declined to answer USA TODAY's questions about the numbers underlying the 500% increase in assaults, including the total number of injuries and their severity. It's also unclear how many additional federal agents have so far been re-assigned to immigration enforcement. Masked agents refusing to identify themselves In Huntington Park, Calif, authorities this week detained a man they said appeared to be pretending to be an ICE agent ‒ a situation they said was possible because real ICE agents are refusing to properly identify themselves as they aggressively detain people. Mayor Arturo Flores said the way ICE agents are acting does not present "the image of a just and lawful government." He said he can understand why people are angry and scared, especially knowing there are potential vigilantes and impersonators operating in the area. In response to the accused impersonator's arrest, Huntington Park leaders asked local police to verify the identity of any suspected ICE agents operating in the city. The suspect was found with multiple police radios, official-looking federal paperwork, flashing lights and a 9 mm handgun in his otherwise unmarked vehicle, according to city police. "When people cannot trust who is enforcing the law, public safety us undermines and fear begins to take hold," Flores said in a June 27 press conference. "What we are saying is simple: if you are acting with federal authority, show it. ID yourself Do not hide behind unmarked vehicles, facemasks and vague credentials." 'Someone's going to pull a gun' Underlying the tension between ICE and members of the public is a fundamental fact: ICE is arresting a record number of people who have no criminal record. An analysis by the Libertarian Cato Institute shows ICE is arresting four times more people with no criminal convictions or criminal charges per week now than the agency did during the same period in June 2017, when Trump was also president. "This is a radical tactical shift compared to Trump 1.0," David Bier, Cato director of immigration studies, in a post on X. ICE officials said they are responding to interference by the public. They say advocacy groups are stalking agents as they try to make arrests, putting the agents at risk and allowing their targets to escape. Federal agents testifying before a Senate committee on June 26 said that during a recent enforcement operation bystanders photographed an officer and posted the photo online with a threatening message. There's been a small but growing number of incidents, too, in which people called their local police department to report the presence of armed, masked men bundling community members into unmarked vehicles. ICE officials also often say that if hundreds of "sanctuary" jurisdictions around the country would hand over immigrants after they've completed a criminal sentence, that would reduce the need for agents to make risky, public arrests. But prior to Trump's enforcement ramp-up – about 70% of people arrested by ICE were transferred directly from the prison system into ICE custody, according to the nonprofit Freedom for Immigrants. Trump's new approach has pushed agents to make more arrests in the community at places like Home Depot. The push to meet a quota is driving agents toward raids and round-ups that expose them to greater risk in the field, says Goldstein. She worries that aggressive tactics combined with masks will eventually lead to a shootout. Twenty-eight states have "Stand Your Ground" laws that allow citizens to shoot if they feel threatened. "If you have masked people running out at you, someone's going to pull a gun out and someone's going to get hurt," she said. Trump's Homeland Security leadership appears to have no plans to back down. "Federal law enforcement is facing an ever-escalating increase in assaults," DHS posted to X, "but we will not be deterred."
