Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez
Mayor Johnson, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and Father Michael Pfleger offered their condolences on the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez, killed Monday, November 4, in the Chatham community, but they also said residents must partner with the police because “you don’t have to have a badge and a gun to provide safety in your community.”
At a press conference at the Chicago Police Department, 7808 S. Halsted, headed by Sixth District Commander Michael Tate, who works closely with Pfleger, Tate said when he saw the dozens of people who showed up in support of Officer Martinez, he was overwhelmed.
“It was so, so humbling. For the people who say all the things about police, they never come here to see things like this,” Tate said placing his hands over his heart.
Before Tate came to the Sixth Police District, he said one of the things he had hoped for was “to have a community that stands by us, and looking out over the packed lobby, he said, “this is a testament that the officers are doing what they ought to do because if that were not the case, we wouldn’t have everybody here today,” he said, thanking the crowd for their presence, their prayers and their support.
Pfleger told the officers “We love you and you are not alone,” and he too thanked them for their hard work even though they face possible death and trauma every day. He told them being a policeman “is not a job. It’s a ministry. We thank and love you. We pray for your safety. We love you, Brother Tate.”
Also offering his condolences to the slain officer’s family and support for the Sixth District, Mayor Johnson said Martinez, who had been on the police force for three-years, “a 26-year-old soul ran into a scene looking to provide real constitutional intervention into communities that are desperately in tragedy every single day, and these men and women show up in this trauma. They work in this trauma.”
Though Martinez’s fellow officers literally picked up his body and drove him to the University of Chicago Medical Center after he was shot during a traffic stop, he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The shooters sped away in a damaged Ford Explorer. A spokesperson from the Chicago Police Department said, “One individual taken into custody has been released without charging. One individual remains in custody and this investigation remains active and ongoing.”
For those who want to politicize this case, Johnson said, “shame on them.” The mayor said Martinez’s family is in mourning, and he said police can’t do everything by themselves.
“It is not enough to just put our arms around these brave souls. It has to be about the policies that we implement so that we don’t continue to rely on police officers to do everything in the community.
“We are asking them to do too much,” said Johnson.
“Police officers should not have to show up and be marriage counselors, to be child therapists, to be psychologists, enforcers of the law. We, as a society, can do better than that.”
Johnson said people have to step up and do their part. “You don’t have to have a badge and a gun to provide safety in our communities.”
Looking at the police lobby filled with supporters Johnson added, “The fact that all of you are here today gives me that much more confidence that the narrative that has been created by outside forces don’t speak for who we really are as a city.”
Snelling said he was initially angry when he learned of Officer Martinez’s murder but quickly realized that is “wasted energy.”
“Instead of being angry, it’s time for us to come together.” He vowed to protect the officers and said to the supporters who joined up we cannot afford for this to happen again.
He praised Chicago policemen for being protectors of the people, risking their lives every day to protect their communities.
“It’s time to stop listening to the nonsense” he noted, and said it is time to begin talking to the police officers. “If they don’t do that, he said it will always be us against them.” Seeing supportive residents at the Sixth Police District “gives them hope.”
Snelling spoke of people who have nothing to do with the communities yet judge the police providing community protection and security and said as residents “It’s time for us to step up.”
