The city of Chicago in the State of Illinois, United States, has witnessed a sharp increase in crimes in recent times, spiking homicides to a record 20 year high.
The website, neighbourhoodscout.com, lists Chicago as one of the top 30 murder capitals in America. By last Friday morning, Chicago topped the number of murders for all of 1998, at 703. In 1997, 759 were killed in the city — at the time, an eight-year low. The murder of a 25-year old man on Wednesday brought Chicago’s murder to 700 since the beginning of the year.
According to the most recent Chicago Police Department data, the murder rate is up about 57 percent from 2015 — which still saw 468 homicides, an increase from 416 in 2014. FBI statistics indicated that the national murder rate rose 10 percent, about half of which was attributable to the bleak statistics in seven cities, Chicago among them.
In a worrisome comparison, New York, a bigger city has had less than 300 murders so far this year, down about 6 percent from 2015 so far.
Police blame repeat gun offenders and gangs — cliques, often of teenagers, that are fractured and concentrated in small areas. The city is dealing with the aftermath of the death of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was shot shot 16 times by a Chicago cop who is now on trial for murder. Fallout from that deadly encounter also shook up the police department; Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy* was fired last year and interim Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson officially took over the department in March.
Chicago’s grim overnight stats on Friday morning were 11 wounded, two dead. Among the murdered was a 48-year-old man, found with multiple gunshot wounds; and a 73-year-old man who was hit with a bullet while driving, and crashed his car. Police are investigating whether he was the intended target, or was simply caught in the crossfire.