90 people were killed in August, higher than every other month of the year. That number carries a lot of weight for the city – not just in quantity, but in meaning: 2016 is now the deadliest year in two decades.
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But 2016 is the deadliest year in two decades when it comes to homicide rates.
It is also important to address the flow of illegal guns that fuels the violence in gang-heavy neighborhoods.
Thirteen people were killed in Chicago over the long Labor Day weekend, bringing the city’s 2016 death toll to over 500. He is expected to speak in further detail about his plans for improving the climate there later this month. In the 1990s, the city regularly recorded more than 700 murders per year, and this year’s rate is frighteningly reminiscent of those dark times as a crack cocaine epidemic raged in the city and gang violence ruled the streets. The youngest victim was just 16. Her funeral was held Saturday. Two brothers, both convicted felons who served time in prison, were arrested. The law reclassifies the act from a crime to a felony, which would carry a penalty of four to 20 years in prison, and up to 30 years for repeat offenders. We have witnessed 500 murders in one of the most major cities in this country and there seems to be no will or appetite to solve it. Escalante says police entered the house in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood after receiving a call from a co-worker to check on a man who lived there. “The toxic formula of drugs in, guns in, jobs out”.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Tuesday that his department is doing all it can to combat violence. How are those gun laws working out for you, Chicago?
Just days before weighing in on Aldridge’s death, Trump had claimed during an interview on Fox News that a “top police officer in Chicago” had told him there was a way to stop the violence “within one week”. Unfortunately, social ills of society are dumped at the doorstep of the police department, and they’re not able to handle all of that. Previously, Memorial Day weekend was the deadliest for the city, with 69 shot, six fatally, while Fourth of July trailed behind at 66 gunshot victims and five fatalities.
“I’m frustrated, you should be frustrated, all Chicagoans should be frustrated”, Johnson said.
Meanwhile, police also worked last week to improve community relations. “They haven’t been to school”.
Chicago has strict gun laws, which is why many gun rights advocates point to it as evidence that tighter regulation doesn’t equal less crime.
She said the spirit among families there remains strong amid the street violence, even though some view it as hopeless.
“We have further reduced violence and serious crime across this city, yet again”, Bratton said.
“Impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of things”, Johnson told reporters.
She hopes others will see the other side of the narrative – that there is plenty of good in tough communities. “I think the parents need to take control of the children”, Woods said, simply. “Some people are afraid and rightfully so”.
More than 472 people were reported shot in August alone, according to CPD. That’s not to say that more police and more effective policing aren’t desirable, but such actions seem to be treating only the symptom instead of the causes.
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But while we here in the Mid-South know the dangers here, making national news are the massive numbers coming out of Chicago.
