Chicago homicides climb over 500, deadliest year in two decades
Over the Labor Day weekend, thirteen people were shot dead, bringing the death toll in that city over 500 for the year.Â
In all, over the weekend, 65 people were shot, with 13 killed, which makes this past weekend the deadliest of the holiday weekends thus far this year. Memorial Day weekend saw 69 people shot and six killed, with the Fourth of July weekend totaling 66 people shot and five killed.
–Kanye wants to give all Chicago kids school uniforms–
While it looked like the Labor Day weekend would be the quietest holiday weekend this year as of early Monday morning, the death toll and injury count skyrocketed up between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday, making it instead the most deadly weekend. During that time period, nine of the thirteen deaths occurred, with 31 shootings in total taking place at that time.
According to police, much of the last-minute surge in violence could be attributed to retaliation after a weekend full of parties.
— Dwayne Wade’s cousin fatally shot in Chicago–
After this weekend, the number of homicides this year now totals 512, far above the 491 homicides for all of last year, with the number of people shot coming out to 2,930 people. This marks a rise in violence that has not been seen since the 1990s, when over 900 people were killed annually, making it the deadliest year thus far in two decades.
