61 people shot in Chicago since Monday
CHICAGO – At least 61 people have been shot in the nation’s third-largest city since Monday, a troubling uptick of violence for a metropolis that has seen some recent success in reducing shootings.
The surge in violence, which includes five people who were fatally shot, comes after Chicago Police Department officials expressed optimism that gun violence was on the downward trend in a city that tallied more than 1,400 homicides in 2016 and 2017 combined.
Chicago recorded a 22.3 percent reduction in murders and a 26.5 percent decline in shooting incidents for the first four months of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, according to police department data.
April also marked the 14th consecutive month in which Chicago recorded a decline in gun violence, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
But as the weather warmed – Chicago endured the fourth-coldest April on record this year but saw temperatures rise this week – the city has seen a spasm of violence.
At least 15 people were shot between Friday evening and sunrise Saturday, according to police.
Police officials said several of the incidents, including a drive-by shooting late Friday in which a 41-yearold man and 17-year-old boy were wounded, appear to be gang-related.
At least a few of the victims were children, including a girl, 4, who was shot in the shoulder Tuesday evening as she was with her parents on the porch of their home on the South Side.
Police said someone in a dark-colored sedan pulled up near the house before opening fire.
In a separate incident Wednesday afternoon, a 15year-old boy, was struck in the head by a bullet Wednesday afternoon on his way home from school on a city bus. The boy, who is listed in good condition, traveled several miles from his home to attend one of the city’s most academically selective high schools.
“It infuriates me that we have a good kid doing what we all expect him to do, and he’s a victim of something like this,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters. “This is why we have to have common sense gun legislation in this country. Not just this city, this state, but in this country, to stop things like this from happening.”