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Attorney General William Barr will be in Chicago on Wednesday to give an update about Operation Legend. | AP file
Barr will be at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse to provide an update on Operation Legend.
Attorney General William Barr is set to appear Wednesday in Chicago to share an update on Operation Legend, an initiative President Donald Trump expanded in July to send additional federal agents here.
The federal help arrived as Chicago again struggled with gun violence this summer. That violence has continued, leading to the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl who was riding in a car with family members over the Labor Day weekend.
Still, Operation Legend appears to have contributed to a surge in new gun cases filed in federal court in Chicago. That followed a bump in federal gun prosecutions in June, after the looting and mayhem that first hit the city in late May.
The new agents sent here under the program were meant to work in partnership with Chicago police and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office under the direction of U.S. Attorney John Lausch. Last week, Lausch’s office announced that 103 defendants had been charged since the launch of Operation Legend with felony offenses related to violent crime.
Most of those were charged in federal court in Chicago, including more than 60 defendants facing a lead firearms-related charge, and more than 25 facing a lead drug trafficking charge. Several cases involving false statements have also been filed in federal court in Northwest Indiana, according to Lausch’s office.
Lausch was expected to appear with Barr at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Wednesday morning, along with top federal prosecutors from Ohio and Indiana and leaders from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Operation Legend is named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed in his sleep June 29 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Source:: Chicago Sun Times
