There is a reason why Chicago has recently been nicknamed “Chi-raq.” Forty-seven people were shot in the Windy City over the weekend, nine of them were fatalities.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
At least 34 people were shot — nine of them fatally — Saturday afternoon through Father’s Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side up to about North Avenue and North Pulaski Road on the Northwest Side, according to authorities. The youngest person killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year, 15-year-old Michael Westley, was fatally shot by a police officer Sunday night.
Shootings from Friday afternoon into Saturday left another 13 people shot, 1 fatally. The combined tally resulted in 47 people shot, and eight killed this weekend. Last year at about the same time, there were 53 people shot, nine fatally in one weekend.
Despite the carnage over the weekend, authorities are stressing that gun violence in Chi-Town is down this year.
The rash of violent crime came as Chicago has seen a large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year.
When asked whether this weekend’s shooting numbers cast doubt on the department’s crime-fighting strategies, Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins insisted they are working, noting the city has so far in 2013 posted its lowest homicide totals in years.
Collins also reiterated a position that police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has expressed publicly throughout the year when discussing the department’s crime-fighting efforts. “There’s going to be good days, and there’s going to be bad days, which is why we’ve been calling this progress, not victory,” said Collins, who pointed out drops in overall crime.
However, if this weekend is any indication, it can be another long hot, and violent, summer.
Check out photos from the bloody weekend in the gallery.
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Photos: Chicago Tribune
