For second year in a row, gun violence in Chicago decreases
CHICAGO — For the second year in a row, the number of homicides and shootings in Chicago dropped by double-digit percentages in 2018, though some neighborhoods on the West and South sides continue to bear the brunt of gun violence as they have for decades.
Homicides dropped by 15 percent, shootings by 18 percent, according to data kept by the Tribune. That continues a trend from 2016, when violence reached levels not seen since the 1990s.
“Are we where we want to be? Of course not,” Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the Tribune. He attributed the progress over the last year to improved technology, more federal involvement in investigations of gun crimes and continued efforts to rebuild community trust.
“I do think we are taking steps in the right direction,’’ he said.
As of Friday, more than 2,900 people had been shot and there were at least 570 homicides this year, according to statistics kept by the Tribune. Last year, at least 3,567 people were shot and at least 675 homicides were recorded.
The data also show that two of the most violent police districts last year were still among the top areas for shootings and homicides this year: Harrison on the West Side and Englewood on the South Side, both encompassing neighborhoods that have long struggled with crime.
A third district, Calumet on the Far South Side, was hit by a 33 percent increase in homicides and a 21 percent increase in shootings, according to the Chicago Police Department.
For many residents in these neighborhoods, it was more a year of loss than progress.
In Roseland in the Calumet District, Adrienne Lando stood in a field where two teenage boys had been shot dead in August. When she learned one of the teens was a boy who had lived with her during a difficult period in his life, she collapsed in the grass and sobbed, repeating his nickname: “Bibby.”
In Englewood, where murders were up 8 percent over last year, a young mother was shot while holding her baby at a September party for the child’s father — who was killed in a West Englewood shooting in March 2017. “Why they gotta shoot her when her baby is in her hands?” the woman’s mother, Jewel Maddox, asked outside the hospital where surgeons operated on her daughter.
In West Garfield Park, a violent area of the Harrison District where homicides increased by 3 percent, a girl holding her baby cousin was shot and killed in the street in June. She’Nyah O’Flynn, 12, had been in town from Michigan visiting family. The girl’s mother, She’Vaughn O’Flynn, rushed from Michigan to Stroger Hospital, still wearing pajamas, and prepared herself to see her daughter’s body. “I actually grew up with her, in a sense,” O'Flynn told the Tribune. “She humbled me.’’
The spike in the Calumet District stems from a “really horrible gang issue over there,’’ Johnson said. “We’re well aware of what’s driving it.” The superintendent said the department was “working really hard” to bring down the violence there, but declined to provide details, saying he did not want to divulge strategy.
In the Englewood District, former Cmdr. Kenneth Johnson had earned praise for overseeing a big drop in violence in what has been one of the city's most violent areas. But he was charged this year with stealing more than $360,000 in Social Security funds in a scheme that lasted more than 23 years.
As of Friday, Englewood looked to end the year with 50 homicides, third highest in the city. The superintendent said he didn’t believe Johnson’s indictment and removal as commander played a part in the increased crime.
“No, I think there’s a number of contributing factors to that,’’ he said. “They did such a great job last year, now they're competing against those numbers. We have lost some momentum there.’’
A persistent gang conflict has recently erupted again, but Johnson said he was “confident in the leadership over there.”
Richard Rosenfeld, chairman of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, said the city needs to see big declines in traditionally violent areas too.