Chicago Surpasses 500 Homicides After Bloody Labor Day Weekend

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 6, 2016 2:40PM

In the midst of a bloody holiday weekend, Chicago has reached and surpassed a shameful mark: 500 homicides in 2016.

The city did not record 500 homicides over the entirety of last year; the final 2015 homicide count totaled 491. Over the long Labor Day weekend, 13 people were shot and killed—and another 52 were non-fatally shot—raising the current year-to-date homicide figure to 512 after Monday, according to Tribune data.

One of the shooting victims was a pregnant woman, Crystal Meyers, 23, who was taken to Stroger Hospital and listed in serious condition. Her boyfriend, Albert Moore, was also shot and taken to Stroger, in critical condition, according to police. Also among the non-fatal shooting victims was a man, 26, who was struck while driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway, near 83rd St., late on Monday night.

Nearly half the shootings occurred within about 20 hours, late in the weekend, between Monday and Tuesday mornings. As the Tribune points out, the Fourth of July weekend saw a similar late upsurge in violence when a 15-hour spike capped off a relative period of calm.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel confirmed on Friday that he plans to hire a wave of additional police officers to counter the violence epidemic. He said he intends to outline the plan further on Sept. 20.

The bloody Labor Day weekend continues a late-summer trend of dramatic violence: August's 90 homicides and 472 shooting victims made it the deadliest month in Chicago in 20 years; while high-profile deaths like the shooting of Nykea Aldridge plunged Chicago violence back into the national spotlight.

[H/T Tribune]