Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson correctly says “What we need help in is holding these repeat gun offenders accountable for this gun violence…” Just about every inner-city criminal with a long rap sheet has one or more arrests for “felon in possession of a gun”. If the federal sentencing guidelines were enforced, many of these guys would already be in prison serving long, mandatory sentences.
In a year of relentless violence, Chicago this week hit another gruesome milestone, exceeding 700 homicides for the first time in nearly two decades, according to Police Department records.
The 700-mark was reached when a 25-year-old man was fatally shot about 6:20 a.m. Wednesday in the Burnside neighborhood, said Frank Giancamilli, a police spokesman. Then at about 8 p.m., a 24-year-old man was shot and killed in the South Shore neighborhood.
The year got off to a violent start with 50 homicides in January and rarely let up even after the end of the summer — the peak season for shootings.
The numbers are simply off the charts. The 701 homicides through Wednesday marked a nearly 56% jump from the 450 killings a year earlier. With one month to go, that represents the most homicides since 704 in 1998.
Police Department statistics do not include killings on area expressways, police-involved shootings, other justifiable homicides or death investigations that could later be reclassified as homicides. A fatal shooting also took place early Thursday, but an autopsy hasn’t confirmed that the death was a homicide.
Nearly 4,050 people have been shot, a 50% jump from 2,699 victims a year earlier, according to department statistics. Shooting incidents rose by comparable figures, to 3,315, up 49% from 2,224 a year earlier.
The surge in violence has come at a time of upheaval for the Police Department amid an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department in the fallout over the video showing the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by an officer in October 2014.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who was a surprise appointment in March after the city’s top cop was fired over the handling of the McDonald shooting, said his department is doing all it can to combat violence rooted in poverty and hopelessness.
On Tuesday, following a speech to the Union League Club, Johnson called this year’s homicide totals “unacceptable,” blaming what he called a “a small subsection of citizens” for the violence.
“The police are doing their job,” he told reporters. “What we need help in is holding these repeat gun offenders accountable for this gun violence, and until we do that, we’re going to continue to see the cycle of violence.”
Month after month this year, homicides in Chicago have soared to levels not seen since the 1990s. The 92 homicides in August marked the most in the city for a single month since July 1993.
Keep reading…