During the first weekend of June, there were 52 shot in Chicago and at least 10 fatalities.
What We Know:
- The first weekend in June was the warmest weekend in June so far this year. Police responded to multiple incidents of violence between 6pm on Friday and midnight on Sunday. Most fo the violence began within the first 12 hours of the weekend.
- The Chicago Police Department increased the number uniformed officers on the streets. The CPD assumed gang violence would be the main cause of the violence and sent officers to areas they expected to see possible retaliation from previous shootings. These areas included the West and South side districts. Patrol officers were also stationed in popular areas for tourists and residents.
- Over the weekend there were 52 people shot, 8 of those people were fatally shot. There were also 2 people stabbed to death. These beats the record previously set on Memorial Day weekend 2019. On that weekend, there were 33 people wounded and 7 killed.
- The CPD were able to make 19 arrests on gun related charges. They also seized 92 illegal firearms. This is twice as many as they usually seize on a warm weekend.
- Despite this deadly weekend, homicides have been decreasing in Chicago over the past three years. The count was 770 in 2016, 660 in 2017, and 561 in 2018. According to police crime statistics, shootings have decreased by 13%, number of shooting victims by 10%, and homicides by 7% in the past five months.
- At a press conference, Superintendent Eddie Johnson attributed the gun violence to the city’s gun laws and court policies. Johnson believes that the jail is becoming more like a “revolving door” for gun offenders. “Until we stop giving them (gun offenders) the sense that they an do this with impunity, then we are going to continue to have these conferences.”
At this time, there have been no updates on arrests made in connection to the homicides.
