(Chicago) The city of Chicago experienced another bloody and violent weekend: six people were shot dead and 27 others were injured by gunfire.
Officers responded to two dozen separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, according to major incident notifications released Monday.
Among those incidents, a man was killed and four others injured early Saturday as they stood on a sidewalk, and three people, including two women, were injured Saturday night in Chicago’s South End when shots were fired from an alley toward a group of people.
A 16-year-old boy was found on a sidewalk and pronounced dead in hospital after being shot multiple times on Friday evening. The teenager has been identified as Ra-Shaun Hood, the grandson of activist Robin Hood.
“I want the community to remember he was a basketball player. He was on the honor roll at school. He was like any other youngster, Reverend Hood told WGN-TV. We must expose these killers and we cannot let them go free. »
A reward of US$10,000 is offered for information leading to the arrest of his killers.
In recent years, the city has been the scene of acts of violence during the weekends. Over Memorial Day weekend, more than 40 people were shot and wounded, nine of them fatally.
But the Chicago figures reflect a national trend that has seen homicides decline since the start of the year, while some crimes, such as motor vehicle thefts, are on the rise.
On average, homicides were down 9.4% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice found in a report released last week.
This report is based on crime data provided online by police departments in 37 cities of varying sizes across the country. Several of the nation’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, are represented. Of the cities that released online crime data, 30 reported the number of homicides and 20 of them recorded a decline.
As of July 16, Chicago police were reporting 331 murders, down from 355 during the same period in 2022, according to Chicago Police Department crime statistics. Year-to-date, the number of shootings in the city has also fallen, from 1,407 in 2022 to 1,314 this year.
Chicago recorded 695 murders and 2,832 shootings for all of 2022.
However, other major crimes increased between 1er January and July 16, in particular vehicle thefts, which have increased from 7,074 on July 16, 2022 to nearly 16,000 since the beginning of the year.
In early June, activists gathered outside Chicago City Hall to demand Mayor Brandon Johnson sign an executive order declaring the violence a public health crisis in the city.