Chicago Police: Murders, shootings down for 9th straight month
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - For the ninth-straight month this year, Chicago saw a reduction in gun violence in November, the police department announced early Friday.
There were 193 shooting victims last month, compared to 390 victims in November 2016, marking a decline of more than 50 percent, according to Chicago Police statistics. There were 147 fewer shooting incidents — 168 in November 2017, compared to 315 in the same month last year — representing a 47 percent decline.
The department also touted a 20 percent decline in shooting victims for the year, 3,260 so far in 2017, compared to 4,058 in the same time frame in 2016. The city has reported 2,612 shooting incidents so far in 2017, compared to 3,315 in 2016 — a 21 percent reduction.
Twenty of 22 police districts have seen reductions in shootings compared to last year, and seven have seen reductions compared to 2015, police said.
In November 2017, there were 35 murders, compared to 79 in the same month in 2016, a decline of more than 54 percent, police said.
In total, the city has seen 620 homicides so far in 2017, including shootings, assaults and other types of incidents, according to Chicago Sun-Times records. Through the same date last year, the city had recorded 724 homicides.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson planned to discuss the city’s crime statistics during a 7 a.m. Friday press conference in Beat 1133, which has seen a decline in murders of more than 80 percent, a more than 65 percent decline in shooting incidents, and a decline of violent crime of more than 20 percent, the department said.
Last year was one of the bloodiest in Chicago in two decades, with more than 4,300 shooting victims and nearly 800 homicides.