Brandon Johnson once said calling out teenage mobs for trashing Chicago would be "demonizing youth."
Now he's tracking five of them at once.
The mayor who blocked every tool police asked for is suddenly warning parents that his city's streets aren't safe for their kids.
Brandon Johnson Killed the Chicago Teen Takeover Curfew and Now Has No Plan
On March 30, mobs of teenagers took over Hyde Park for hours – climbing on cars, damaging roughly 30 vehicles, and leaving one resident with $1,000 in damage to his hood alone.
"The hood is messed up, terrible. A thousand worth of damage, dents everywhere, footprints everywhere," Jason Hale told FOX 32.
https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/2041228839016112399?s=20
Police issued three curfew violations and charged one 16-year-old girl with unlawful weapon possession.
Three violations. For a mob that took over an entire neighborhood.
That's the enforcement Chicago has – because Brandon Johnson made sure it stayed that way.
The Chicago City Council passed a snap curfew ordinance in June 2025 that would have given the police superintendent authority to disperse dangerous gatherings with 30 minutes' notice.
It passed 27-22. Johnson vetoed it – the first mayoral veto in Chicago since 2006.
The City Council couldn't muster the 34 votes to override him.
Alderman Brian Hopkins, who sponsored the ordinance, warned exactly what would happen.
"When the next violent teen takeover happens, when the blood sheds – it is on them," Hopkins said after the veto override failed.
The Mayor Who Downplayed Chicago Teen Takeover Violence Is Now Begging Parents for Help
This isn't a new problem that caught Johnson off guard. It's a crisis he inherited, protected, and now pretends to be alarmed by.
Back in April 2023, before he even took office, Johnson called mobs destroying Chicago's Loop "unacceptable" – then immediately added that it was "not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities."
A few months into his tenure, when a mob looted a South Loop 7-Eleven, he refused to call out the criminal behavior directly.
"We have to be careful when we use language to describe certain behavior," he said.
His consistent position: these kids need safe spaces and summer jobs, not accountability.
So Chicago tried it his way. Johnson hired 29,000 young people for summer jobs – a 45% increase since taking office, he bragged.
He invested in "community safety strategies." He blocked expanded curfew authority.
The result: over the first 90 days of 2026, Chicago recorded 99 homicides, with shootings up double digits compared to the same stretch in 2025.
Now Johnson is tracking five simultaneous mob takeovers in a single weekend and posting social media warnings to parents.
"This is no joke, Chicago," he said April 3. "They're unsafe and they can turn deadly."
https://twitter.com/officer_Lew/status/2040472460932334054?s=20
Johnson's Plan: Ask Nicely
What's Johnson's response to mobs smashing cars and charging 16-year-olds with illegal weapons?
Post a video. Ask parents to check the app.
He's directing families to the "My Chi. My Future." app to find safe alternatives for their teenagers – as if the kids destroying Hyde Park are looking for organized activities and just couldn't find the download link.
Hopkins designed the snap curfew ordinance specifically so police could remove teenagers from dangerous situations without arresting them – no criminal record, just dispersal. Johnson killed it anyway.
Hale, the Hyde Park resident with footprints on his hood, has seen enough.
He's thinking about leaving Chicago entirely.
https://twitter.com/DailyLoud/status/2039037085881909317?s=20
"Your kids should not be out here," he said. "I had parents who guided me. And these parents, they just let them run rampant."
He's not wrong.
But someone has to ask: when the mayor himself spends three years refusing to call criminal behavior criminal, what message does that send to the parents?
Brandon Johnson is the only mayor in America tracking five mob takeovers at once and responding with a smartphone app.
Hopkins saw this coming.
Chicago residents are seeing it now.
And Brandon Johnson is still the guy who made sure it happened.
Sources:
- Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, "Video shows teens take over Chicago streets as mayor warns of 'trends' that can turn 'deadly'," Fox News, April 7, 2026.
- "8 arrested in Chicago teen takeover that prompted curfew enforcement," FOX 32 Chicago, March 2026.
- "No Snap Curfew After City Council Fails To Override Mayor's Veto," Block Club Chicago, July 17, 2025.
- "Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson officially vetoes curfew ordinance at City Council meeting; aldermen override fails," ABC7 Chicago, July 17, 2025.
- "Brandon Johnson's pro-criminal attitude is killing Chicago," Washington Examiner, April 2, 2026.
- "'Calling on all parents': Mayor Johnson warns of 5 'teen trend' events in Chicago this weekend," NBC Chicago, April 3, 2026.