Cook Co. commissioner calls for 'gun violence czar'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin is calling for a "gun violence czar" plan to reduce crime in and around Chicago.

In the first seven months of this year, 259 people have died in Cook County from gun violence - more than the same time period in each of the last two years. The majority of those are on Chicago's South Side.

"We all hold our collective breath on the weekend and we hope for cool weekends and we hope for rain so people are inside and not shooting folks," Boykin said.

Boykin says the czar would eliminate political concerns to direct city, county and federal resources to the neighborhoods that need it the most.

He will present the plan at next month's county board meeting.