While the number of weekend shootings victims in the city of Chicago dropped in total this past weekend, there’s a disturbing trend that presented itself early Monday morning according to data collected by the Chicago Tribune.
The Tribune reported that the “number of shooting victims younger than 10 years old is three times what it was last year.”
Three times! Kids younger than 10 shouldn’t have to face the fear of being killed in the first place, so for young children to be the victim of the itchy trigger fingers of violent criminals — often as innocent bystanders — is another red flag that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot seems to want to ignore in favor of activism.
According to the Chicago Tribune:
The number of shootings [sic] victims us up overall this year but not by the same proportion as the youngest victims of the city’s gun violence. As of July 31, the Tribune counted 2,268 shooting victims of all ages, an increase of 45% over the same time period in 2019. Of that, 222 victims were ages 17 or younger, an increase of 36% compared to 2019. Shooting victims age 10 and younger increased by 200%.
A 9-year-old boy was murdered this past weekend when a stray bullet struck him in the chest.
Speaking of shooting victims from this past weekend, overall numbers were down. But the number of victims who died from their wounds was three times higher than the previous weekend. This past weekend saw at least nine people murdered with another 25 were wounded in shootings across the Chicagoland area. The previous weekend had at least three people killed and another 56 wounded.
Here are the names of those that died this past weekend, according to the Chicago Sun-Times:
Janari Ricks, 9
Allen Britten, 38
Darren D. Sims, 28
Demarcus Wiggins, 23
Unidentified Female, Age Unknown
Nautica Thompson, 23
Aaron Brown, 26
As for the year-to-date numbers on weekend shooting victims, Chicago is now up to at least 192 people dead and 955 people wounded. The Chicago Tribune shooting tracker, which keeps track of all Chicago shooting victims regardless of the day of the week, reported that 2,249 people had been shot, as of July 29. That is an astounding 695 more than the same point in 2019, and the second highest since 2012.