While the Chicago Police Department (CPD) pushed their report to local media outlets that shootings in the city are at a “four-year low,” 56 more people were shot during only the second Chicago weekend in 2019 that has seen more than 50 people shot.
At least four people are dead after a particularly violent weekend in the Windy City that saw another 52 people hurt as a result of shootings in the Chicagoland area. This is a sharp increase from the previous weekend that saw 20 people shot, four of which died as a result of their wounds.
Here’s an example of this past weekend’s violence, according to the Chicago Sun-Times:
A witness reported that an 18-year-old man was arguing with a male in an alley about 11:13 p.m. in the 6000 block of South Komensky Avenue, Chicago police said. The male pulled out a gun and fired several rounds before running off.
The man was struck multiple times, and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he later died, police said.
It’s almost as if the criminals carrying out the shootings were trying to break a high score, because the alarming number of people shot over the weekend came at the same time the CPD promoted a report that Chicago has had its lowest number of shooting victims in four years.
According to CBS 2 - Chicago:
So far this year, 1,229 people have been shot in Chicago, about 100 fewer than the first six months of 2018, and the lowest total since 2015. Police also said there have been 236 murders through the end of June, 21 fewer than the same time period last year.
Illinois politicians, like Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, seem to be too enamored with signing bills to raise taxes on their citizens rather than tackle the shooting problems that plague Chicago.
New faces, same old story.