Chicago Dominates The U.S. In Mass Shootings Count

By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 5, 2015 5:50PM

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America's mass shooting problem has reached epidemic proportions—and Chicago is far from exempt. In the wake of last week's deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, the Guardian compiled an infographic that shows there's nearly a mass shooting every day in America—and Chicago appears to dominate the data more than any other major city. About 48 "mass shootings" have occurred in Chicago since Jan. 1, 2013.

Based on data compiled by the crowd-sourced Mass Shooting Tracker site, the Guardian discovered that there were 994 mass shootings—defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot—in 1,004 days since Jan. 1, 2013. The Oregon shooting happened on the 274th day of 2015 and was the 294th mass shooting of the year in the U.S.

Chicago's recent gun violence surges are evident in the infographic, with five of the 48 mass shootings in September 2015 alone. There were two so-called mass shootings in the city last week, the Fuller Park incident which left three dead and killed two and the Back of the Yards shooting that killed a mother and grandmother and wounded three more including an 11-month-old boy.

Chicago police and residents are still looking for answers after September, which was one of the bloodiest months in Chicago in the past few years. Police are working on new tactics and strategies to decrease gun violence.

"The results to date are not acceptable to anyone," Chicago police said in a statement last week.