Chicago mayor bans unaccompanied minors from Millennium Park after fatal shooting

After a teen was shot and killed near The Bean, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has banned unaccompanied minors from visiting Millennium Park after 6 p.m. from Thursday through Sunday, a policy aimed at keeping large crowds of teenagers from creating chaos, but one that has inspired criticism from civil libertarians.

The move is reminiscent of Lightfoot’s decision throughout 2020 to raise bridges downtown as a way to keep potential looters or other criminals out of the Loop. That decision provoked fierce criticism from residents who said the city was making downtown inhospitable to Black and brown residents from the South and West sides, though Lightfoot defended the bridge raising as necessary to prevent civil unrest.

“Tragically, a young person — a teenager — lost his life last night in Millennium Park. I suspect an overwhelming majority of the youth who were in the Park were there to have a good time and enjoy a summer evening. But the scene devolved into one of chaos and unnecessary violence,” Lightfoot, who spent much of the past week in Texas, said in a statement. “We, as a City, can not allow any of our public spaces to become platforms for danger. Anyone coming into our public spaces should expect to enjoy them peacefully and must respect and exhibit basic community norms of decency. We simply will not accept anything less.”

It’s not clear what legal power Lightfoot is relying on to implement the new policy, and her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.