Chicago's new liberal mayor scolds reporter for using 'mob' to describe hundreds of teens looting and trashing store

The recently installed progressive mayor of Chicago berated a reporter for using the word "mob" to describe a group of hundreds of teenagers rampaging through the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, was speaking to reporters in an hour-long media briefing Wednesday when he made the bizarre comments.

The reporter referred to an incident as a "mob action," up to 400 teenagers overwhelmed a 7-Eleven convenience store on Sunday and completely trashed the business while stealing as much merchandise as possible.

"That's not appropriate. We're not talking about mob actions, I didn't say that," said Johnson to a reporter.

He instead referred to them as "large gatherings" and went on to interrupt reporters.

"It's important that we speak of these dynamics in an appropriate way. This is not to obfuscate what has actually taken place," he added.

"We have to be careful when we use language to describe certain behavior. There's history in this city. I mean, to refer to children as like baby Al Capones is not appropriate," he continued.

Chicago police were able to make about 40 arrests once the group "became disorderly and disregarded multiple verbal commands by police to disperse."

Johnson did praise the police for their response to the incident, though he said it was unfortunate that arrests were made.

"To the best of their ability, I believe that they attempted to engage with our young people, with community partners – giving as much warning as they possibly could," said Johnson.

"And you know, unfortunately, arrests were made. Unfortunately, some damage was caused," he added. "And the level of sensitivity and patience that our officers expressed, I'm appreciative of that."

Johnson was elected after Lori Lightfoot lost a re-election bid at the primary stage in February. Lightfoot was the first woman and the first openly gay person to serve as mayor of Chicago, but she also became the first to lose a re-election bid in the last 40 years of the city's history.

Here's the video of Johnson's comments:

Mayor Johnson addresses latest Chicago teen takeover for first timewww.youtube.com

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