Seven teens, all children, were among those injured in multiple shootings reported since Friday night, police said.
A victim, a 24-year-old woman, was standing on the sidewalk in a residential area “when she heard gunshots (and) felt pain,” police said in a statement. She went to Holy Cross Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left thigh and a gunshot wound to the buttocks. She is in good condition, police said.
Hours earlier, a 35-year-old man was shot in the neck and died of his injuries at Northwestern Hospital. The 25-year-old man and woman fired police from a car after they were both shot at around 2:35 am Sunday, police said in a statement. The woman is in good condition but does not cooperate with the police, police said.
The increase has been particularly marked in the last month. There were 116 murders reported in the 28 days prior to July 12, approximately three times the murders in the same period in 2019.
According to Chicago police, total crime complaints decreased 9% compared to last year, due to steep drops in robberies and criminal sexual assault incidents.
Compared to 2016, crime reports have decreased 23%, with 10% more murders so far this year, but 11% less shooting incidents. Historically, this year’s murders and shootings are well below the heights of the 1990s, when crime peaked in U.S. cities.
Crime experts believe this year’s surge in killings and shootings is linked to increased mistrust between police and the communities they serve, as evidenced by Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
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