'Staggering' number of children exposed to violence in Chicago; new study says kid population greater in high-homicide areas

CHICAGO - Over the Fourth of July holiday, Felix Kombwa brought the children he mentors to a festival where a law-enforcement exhibit allowed visitors to sit in a squad car, try on police gear and chat with officers.

But the fireworks, the presence of the officers and the sight of their weapons all scared the children, Kombwa said. They mistook the fireworks for gunshots and thought the guns, though holstered, were "too loud."

Kombwa works for the Friends of the Children program, mentoring at-risk kids in Chicago's Austin and North Lawndale areas, which have experienced more homicides in recent years than almost every other community area in the city.

And while it's long been known that exposure to violence