Teen Activist Who Protested to “Defund the Police” Shot Dead in Chicago

While "defund the police" is a popular rallying cry for many on the radical left, most people are unaware of the long-term consequences of this action.

By undermining police departments, gangs and criminal activity will gain a foothold in local communities.

Chicago's local ABC 7 News confirms that the young activist died in a shooting:

A young activist was shot and killed in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood over the weekend.

Caleb Reed, 17, was front and center in speaking out against police in schools.

In a June interview with ABC7, the 17-year-old Mather High School student explained why it became his cause.

The youth activist died Sunday after being shot in the head last Friday afternoon.

Reed was gunned down on a sidewalk in West Rogers Park in broad daylight right across the street from the Misercoridia Home.

For the past year, Reed worked with Meyiya Coleman and Maria Degillo at Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, known as VOYCE. It is a student led group that advocates for the removal of police in schools.

"It's not fair to know that a young person who fought so hard is no longer here anymore," said Coleman.

"Caleb was really trying to change the way we value and love black lives and young people of color," Degillo said.

Degillo and Coleman said Caleb's desire to make change was done so with passion and humor.

No one from VOYCE had any idea who would want to kill him.

Alderman Andre Vasquez from the 40th Ward said he is just as baffled. He lives in the neighborhood where Caleb was shot.

While no arrests have been made, Vasquez said police are trying to determine if the shooting was random or targeted.

"To have someone that involved in the community and taking the right steps to make his voice heard and have this occur is beyond tragic," Vasquez said.

Of course, Democrats and far left radicals will try to blame Reed's death on "gun violence."

The reality, however, is that crime is spiking in Democrat-run cities where police departments are losing their funding.

Crime is also appearing to spike in areas where local leadership appears to be soft on crime.

So far, there are no suspects in the shooting.

It is unclear whether this was a random attack or if Reed was the target.

The Blaze confirms that Reed was an activist calling for the defunding of the police as well as the removal of police security from local Chicago schools:

Reed, described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a "student leader with a youth activist group," was discovered on a sidewalk of the West Rogers Park neighborhood in the city.

He had been shot in the head.

The teen, a leader with student group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, was an advocate of removing police from Chicago schools.

No suspect have been named in Reed's death at the time of this reporting.

Just weeks ago, Reed spoke at a board of education meeting in support of removing police from the district. During the meeting, he recalled his own experience with officers in his school.

During the meeting, Reed said, "My sophomore year of high school I was arrested for attending a basketball game because I didn't have my ID. I sat in a police station for six hours. I knew it wasn't right at all, but inside I was angry, confused.

"One thing I'm here to say is I'm proud to be a black young man," the teen activist added. "It's not a good feeling to be labeled as dangerous or criminals. Because we're not. ... No black person should ever feel like this."

A GoFundMe page to benefit Reed's family has so far received nearly $6,000 in donations.

In a statement, Alderman Andre Vasquez said, "Caleb was a son, a brother, a community organizer, and a neighbor. His light and potential have been extinguished at the hands of gun violence, like so many brothers in Chicago. As a city, we need to address the root causes of this violence, which is the segregation and disinvestment in the communities that need it the most for generations now."

He added, "Caleb was also an activist and advocate — most recently for the movement to remove school resource officers out of Chicago Public Schools. I ask that we honor his work by continuing it and we pray for his family."

On Twitter, Vasquez added, "Caleb lived and was shot in our ward this weekend. He was a light in our community that was extinguished too soon. We need to address the root causes of #GunViolence so that we stop losing our people. I ask that people help continue the work he was doing and pray for the family."

If it turns out that Reed was the victim of a random crime, it will be a tragic end to this case.

We should not be undermining the police in a time of national and international turmoil.

Instead, we must DEFEND the blue so that they can continue to keep us and our families safe.

This November, there is only one candidate that stands for law and order.

And that is President Donald J. Trump!