With four months remaining in the year, Chicago murders have already surpassed numbers from 2015. This has occurred following a deadly summer that concluded with a violent Labor Day weekend. According to the Chicago Tribune, 65 people were shot during the Labor Day weekend and 13 people were killed.
Over half of the shootings occurred between early Monday morning and shortly after midnight on Sept. 6. During that time span, 9 of the 13 homicide victims were killed. It marked the deadliest holiday in Chicago this summer after 66 people were shot during Fourth of July weekend and 69 people were shot on Memorial Day weekend.
With the increase of violence this summer, Chicago’s homicide numbers will shatter the number from the previous year. In 2015, 468 people were killed in Chicago. With four months remaining in 2016, the Chicago homicide number has reached 500. Over, 2,900 people have been killed thus far.
The numbers are staggering when compared to other major cities in America. In 2016, the numbers for New York and Los Angeles are 409 homicides combined.
Along with the overwhelming violence, Chicago has endured struggles with police and political corruption. In the recent case of the murder of teenager LaQuan McDonald, police officers were fired for attempting to cover-up evidence. Also, dozens of predominately Black public schools in the inner-city have been closed.
However, there are some citizens and groups in Chicago who are attempted to address the violence and corruption. Project Orange Tree held a rally to stop violence in June. During the event, Lucia McBath, the mother of murdered teen Jordan Davis, served as the first speaker at the event.
“I’m here with the Wear Orange Campaign, it’s important for me to come back to where I was raised and to help champion gun violence prevention. Gun violence victims often are nameless and people outside of their communities don’t know who they are. I’m here to rally the troops,” McBath said.
