Amelia Finefrock
According to data kept by the Tribune, Chicago is close to recording its 600th homicide for the year – which would be only the second time the city will have reached the dark milestone since 2003.
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After five people were shot fatally out of 30 this past weekend, the number of homicides stands at 593 this year, according to the Tribune’s database. It is below the 681 homicides this time last year but above other recent years, substantially.
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Last year, Chicago saw gun violence at levels that were not recorded since the late 90’s. This year has not been as bad but the last time the city clocked in 600 homicides was 2003 – and that was for the entire year – according to statistics kept by the Chicago Police Department.
Unlike the Tribune, the Chicago Police Department does not count homicides on expressways as well as fatal shootings by police officers and considered justified — so there homicide count this year is 581.
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Among those shot over this past weekend was a 14-year-old boy, who was grazed in the right foot and leg on Saturday afternoon. He and a 22-year-old man were fired at from a black sedan in the 2200 block of South Oakley Avenue in the West Side’s Heart of Italy neighborhood.
In another double shooting late Saturday night, a 37-year-old woman was killed while attending a party to celebrate what would have been the birthday of a man killed in August as he left the Cook County criminal courthouse. A 25-year-old man was also shot and injured.
