Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, if I came to the Senate floor each day and told the story of another victim of gun violence in the city of Chicago, it would be a full-time job. Trend lines are improving ever so slightly, but the deaths from gun violence in that great city continue to break our hearts. Hardly a day, a week, or month goes by that we don't hear another story of some child, innocent bystander, infant, or elderly person victimized by gun violence. Last week, there was an extraordinary event which captured the hearts of the people of Chicago and Illinois.
This Monday afternoon, hundreds of police officers from Chicago and Northern Illinois--and some from as far away as Boston and New York-- stood at solemn attention, lining the roadways around the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines.
The night before, a powerful blizzard had dumped 7 inches of snow in the Chicago area. It was very cold, but it was not cold air that caused many of the officers gathered outside the chapel to feel numb. It was grief. They had come to pay their respects to a fallen brother and hero.
Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez was shot and killed a week earlier when he tried to stop a shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center on the city's South Side.
I am going to put this array of photos up because I want to address each and every one of them, the individuals on there. This is Officer Jimenez. He was 28 years old, married to his high school sweetheart, the loving father of three little kids.
Killed in the same shooting were these two women: Dr. Tamara O'Neal, an emergency room physician, and Dayna Less, a first-year pharmacy resident. Both women worked at Mercy Hospital. The man who shot all three of them also died, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Let me speak of this hero and these healers for a moment. Officer Samuel Jimenez was 28 years old, married to his high school sweetheart, Crystal. Together, they had three children--two little girls and a boy. Friends said his eyes lit up whenever anyone asked him about his kids.
Officer Jimenez had been a member of the Chicago Police Department for less than 2 years. He had already earned two honorable mentions for exceptional performance. He and his partner were in their patrol car around 3:30 Monday afternoon, a week ago, November 19. A call came over the police radio about an active shooter at Mercy Hospital. The gunman shot Dr. O'Neal in the parking lot and then ran into the hospital. Officer Jimenez followed. He was shot and killed in the hospital lobby.
The gunman shot Ms. Less as she stepped off an elevator. He then shot and killed himself, after first being shot by a Chicago policeman.
At the funeral, Officer Jimenez was remembered as a loving husband, father, and friend, and as dedicated to protecting others. He grew up in Northwest Chicago, the youngest of nine children. Before joining the police department, he worked at Dunkin' Donuts, bused tables at Moretti's Ristorante & Pizzeria. He even delivered mail in the suburbs. His instructors and classmates at the police training academy remembered him as a stellar recruit, always eager to lend a hand, always there with a warm hello.
He completed his 13-month probationary period with the police department just last August. Officer Jimenez and his partner didn't have to respond at Mercy Hospital. You see, that hospital was outside the district they were assigned to, but they went anyway, not even hesitating for a second because they knew people were in danger.
Dr. Tamara O'Neal was an emergency room doctor. That is one of the hardest, most stressful jobs in the hospital. Dr. O'Neal picked that profession because she thought it was where she could do the most good for people who needed help. She was 38 years old. She joined the staff of Mercy Hospital less than 3 months ago, after a 3-year residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago--the same school where she earned her medical degree.
Her colleagues remember her for her outgoing personality and her willingness to go out of her way to help others. They say she used to stay long after her shift ended to make sure her patients were taken care of. She was also a woman of great faith. She was the choir director of her church in Indiana, and she drove there every Sunday--60 miles each way--to lead the congregation in song. Her brother was the pastor of the church. Dr. O'Neal helped raise money every year to buy school supplies for children in the church whose families were strapped for money. She loved taking her nieces and nephews into the city of Chicago to show them new attractions, new restaurants.
Dayna Less was 24 years old. Had the shooting happened 1 day later, she would still be alive. She was leaving that next day to spend Thanksgiving in Indiana with her family. She graduated from pharmacy school at Purdue last May, after 6 years of study.
She was engaged to be married in June to a young man she met at church camp when they were both just 9 years old. Dayna Less loved the Chicago Cubs, working at Mercy Hospital, and traveling.
Before coming to Mercy, she spent 8 weeks on pharmacy rotation in Kenya. She wrote about her experiences there in a blog. This is part of what she wrote:
Watching patients die from things that would 100 percent be treatable in the US is extremely disheartening.
It's been very important for me to focus on the positive things we are doing here because it can be difficult to see how we are making a difference. But, it's worth it when you fight for something and it actually happens! Even if it's as small as making sure a patient gets their medication, we are doing something that matters.
Officer Jimenez, Dr. O'Neal, and Ms. Less were all doing work that mattered and mattered greatly. All three were dedicated to helping others--Officer Jimenez as a protector, Dr. O'Neal and Ms. Less as healers.
Their deaths have left their friends and families, the Chicago Police Department, and all of the city of Chicago stunned and grieving. There is never--never--a good time to lose a family member to violence but to lose them during the holiday season seems especially cruel. Our hearts go out to Officer Jimenez's family and to the O'Neal and Less families.
Officer Jimenez was the second Chicago police officer killed in the line of duty this year. Last February, the day before Valentine's Day, District Commander Paul Bauer was fatally shot in downtown Chicago. Gun violence against police officers is not just a problem in the city of Chicago; it is a problem across America. It is getting worse.
We all remember the horrific ambush of Dallas police officers in July 2016. Five officers were killed and nine others were injured by a sniper. Since then, 132 police officers have been shot and killed in the line of duty in cities and towns across our country. These are intentional shootings. They are not accidents.
We have seen intentional killings at churches, synagogues, schools, and as we have learned so painfully in the city of Chicago, hospitals. We are seeing an increase in shootings in these locations.
In 2016, U.S. hospitals spent $1.1 billion to try to make their hospital grounds safer. Think about that: more than $1 billion--not to cure an illness, not to alleviate suffering but to protect the patients and professionals at hospitals across America from this horrific gun violence that shook the city of Chicago last week. Imagine if that $1 billion would have been spent on healing and keeping people healthy.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich was the main celebrant at Officer Jimenez's funeral. I want to read part of what he told the mourners who filled Our Lady of Guadalupe. He said of those in law enforcement:
Every day they get up, leave their homes and family to watch out for us.
I think that maybe the best way that we can console each other and also express our gratitude for the sacrifice that has been given in the death of Officer Jimenez is as citizens, remember that law enforcement wants us all to live together, to watch out for each other, care for each other, and then maybe we will make their jobs easier.
He added:
And maybe, there will not be another death of an officer because all of us are taking responsibility for watching out for one another.
It is not unusual for the people of Chicago to rightfully say to me, their U.S. Senator: What are you going to do about this? What are you going to do to reduce gun violence in the United States?
Does the Second Amendment to the Constitution create this burden on us today, where we have to accept wanton gun violence as part of someone's constitutional right? Of course not. Those who misuse guns, those who do not store them or use them properly and legally should be held accountable. Why then can't we pass basic legislation in this Congress? Why can't we pass a bill to keep guns out of the hands of people who are unqualified to own them or people who are unstable and should never be given a gun? Why can't we make certain that weapons that are military weapons, that have little or no application when it comes to sport or hunting, are not sold to everyone, right and left, in the United States?
I heard recently, there were 11 million AR-15s--a military-style weapon--that are circulating in the United States of America. Does anyone, in their wildest imagination, think that is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they talked about the right to bear arms; that people would have these deadly military weapons and they would be used so often?
I will be very candid with you, having served in the House and served in the Senate for a number of years, the prospects of passing meaningful gun safety legislation are minimal. There are two things that can make a difference. For one, if the police and law enforcement officers across the United States stood as one and demanded of Congress there be gun safety measures to make their lives safer, it would be happen. Law enforcement could be the inspiration and the political motivation for Congress to act.
Secondly, I know thousands of law-abiding gun owners in the State of Illinois. I grew up in a family--my family and others--where owning a firearm was considered part of life. It was what people did so they could go hunting in a proper way, a legal way. If those legitimate gun owners--sportsmen, hunters, and those who keep them for self-defense-- would step up and say we need to draw clear lines for those who abuse firearms and those who are using them to kill innocent people, that, too, could make a difference. Think of that. If the law enforcement community and gun owners who accept responsibility for that firearm came together and demanded Congress pass measures to keep guns out of the hands of those who kill our policemen, threaten our law enforcement officers, and hurt innocent people like the doctor and this pharmacy resident, it would make a significant difference.
Until that happens, we will come and make speeches on the floor of the Senate. We will issue press releases. We will attend funerals. We will offer our thoughts and our prayers, but I think it is time for more. I think it is time for this Nation to step up and do something significant, to not just stop and demand that we bring an end to gun violence in Chicago and other cities but make this a safer world for our children.
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