On Wednesday, seven people were shot dead in Chicago, marking the deadliest single day of the new year. At this rate, homicides in the city are set to outpace last year’s numbers.
Eight people were shot dead on Christmas Day last year. Wednesday’s total missed that by one death. According to The Chicago Tribune, five of the seven murders happened in just a two-hour time span and included “a woman who was eight months pregnant and had already picked out a name for her baby.”
More from the report:
Homicides had been lagging behind last year, which had been the deadliest in two decades. But by Wednesday evening, the city had recorded its 99th homicide two days earlier than it did last year, according to Tribune data.
Like last year, the Harrison police district on the West Side has seen the most homicides: 16 this year compared to 12 this time last year, according to Tribune data.
The Austin district, also on the West Side, is close behind with 11 homicides. Last year, it wasn’t even among the top five at this time, Tribune data shows.
The next three districts are Ogden on the Near West Side, 10, Englewood on the South Side, 9, and Calumet on the South Side, 6. The Near North district had no homicides this time last year but has recorded two this year, according to Tribune data.
While homicides had been down most of this year, the number of people shot has been higher almost from the beginning. As of Wednesday evening, at least 495 people had been shot in Chicago, nearly 60 more than this time last year, according to Tribune data.
“The department reported 379 shooting incidents this year, compared to 365 this time last year,” the report continued. “ It counted 91 homicides as of Wednesday night, compared to 93 the year before.”
To be clear, the Tribune noted that these shootings DO NOT include justified shootings or police-involved shootings. These are criminal shootings — civilians shooting each other.
For more details on the shootings, click here.
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