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Sick kids and their families cowered in fear inside a Chicago Ronald McDonald House as looters smashed the front door while trying to get inside this week, according to staff.
The charity says more than 30 families, as well as some sick children with them, were left “frightened” by those who smashed windows as they ransacked the Windy City during Monday’s chaotic crime spree.
“[They were] very concerned there was a lot of activity right in front of the house, people making choices that could put them at risk and put our families at risk, so the staff was frightened,” Ronald McDonald House Charities’ Lisa Mitchell told ABC7.
The attacked site houses families so they and their children can be close to Lurie Children’s Hospital, which should be an easy and safe trip just five blocks away.
“They are already in a really, really difficult spot, and having this kind of additional stress and worry about getting to and from the hospital … because of safety concerns is just doubling the strain,” Mitchell said.
Several windows were smashed and the front door had to be boarded up, but nobody was injured, the charity said.
Mitchell told CBS Chicago that it was vital that families “get the rest they need while they have a child in the hospital seeking care.”
“So it’s so important that anything that might be going on outside, we maintain our care for families,” she stressed.
At least 13 cops were injured in violent clashes with looters, with 100 arrests. It started amid reports that a teen had been shot by cops, although police later said it was a 20-year-old man who had first fired at officers as he fled arrest.
Ariel Atkins, a Chicago Black Lives Matter organizer, cheered the looting, calling it a “reparation.”
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