Chicago Police Report 461 Shootings In July, A 15% Increase From Last Year
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police Sunday released their crime data for the month of July, and while murders in the city are about equal to 2020, the number of shootings has increased nearly 15% since last year.
According to the Chicago Police Department, in July 2020 the city saw 107 homicides, and in 2021 homicides were down slightly at 105. But that number is up significantly from 2018 when there were 64 murders reported in July and 2019 when there were only 44 murders reported. For 2021 murders have increased by 138% over 2019.
Police said of those 2021 murders, 90% were a result of gun violence.
Overall shootings, however, increased. In 2020, CPD reported 402 shootings, but that number rose to 461 this year. The 461 shootings is a 99% increase over 2019, when police only reported 232 shootings.
Police report a total of 614 shooting victims as a result of those July shootings.
From Jan. 1 until July 31, there have been a total of 1,973 shootings in the city. That is up from 1,779 in that same time last year and 1,210 in 2019. For 2021, shootings left 2,471 people victims.
Along with those statistics, police noted a 20-year record low in burglaries, continuing a trend of record lows in aggravated batteries, burglaries and robberies. They also noted that six districts in the city have seen record lows in 20-year lows in motor vehicle thefts.
Police also touted an increase in recovered guns in the city, saying the department is on track to recover a record more than 12,000 guns by the end of the year. So far this year, CPD has recovered more than 7,289 guns, up 28% from last year, statistics said. Officers also made 3,477 gun arrests, a 23% increase from 2020.
"The recovery of these deadly weapons comes during a particularly dangerous time for CPD officers," the release stated.
So far in 2021, 36 CPD officers have been shot at and 9 were struck.