The city of Chicago's homicide count for 2016 surpassed the total number of killings the city saw in 2015 over Labor Day weekend, when the total reached over 500. Now, Chicago has logged more than 3,000 shootings for the year so far, exceeding the total of 2,980 shootings that were recorded in all of 2015.
The Chicago Tribune reported that, as of early Monday morning, at least 3,028 people have been shot in Chicago since January 1. Eight people were killed, and 35 were wounded over the weekend. The Chicago Tribune also reported that, of the more than 3,000 shootings this year, nearly one third of them took place in the same three West-side police districts. Two of these three districts (Austin and Ogden) have shooting numbers that have more than doubled since last year. The Harrison district on the West-side has seen the most number of shootings this year: 423 (up from 237 shootings through this time last year).
Of the people shot this year, 30 have been children under 13-years-old, according to the Chicago Tribune, whereas, in 2015, 25 children under 13 were shot total.
Chicago Police have said the steep rise in violent crime this year is due to the sale of illegal arms and the fracturing of established gangs. The Tribune also noted that the increased crime could be due in part to a lack of morale within the Chicago Police Department from the national scrutiny that followed the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old Laquan McDonald. Officers told the Tribune earlier in 2016 they were being extra cautious for fear of winding up in a viral video.
