The Chicago Police Department announced Friday the amount of shootings between the months of January and March were down when compared to the same period last year. In addition, the department reported murders decreased by 1.1%, aggravated batteries by 0.8%, and sexual assaults by 13.9% while robberies were up 16.3%. Hmm…at least crime is going down in some areas.

Sadly, a few hours after the announcement, the city experienced a surge of shootings; over 20 in the period between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, of which nine occurred in a two hour period. Wow. Of the injured, two proved to be fatal. Worth noting, most of the shootings occurred in the South side of Chicago, an area of the city frequently attributed to violence and crime.

If you’re really interested in reading about each specific shooting, feel free to check out the Read link below. CBS Chicago was nice enough to list each event and the location. Also worth noting, the city claims shootings are down this year but there have been 35 reported between Monday, April 14 and Saturday, April 19. That’s a very decent amount. We wonder what the number was last year.

For the record though, Chicago isn’t really that bad or crime ridden. The majority of the shootings were gang related and in other cases, the victims were out very late into the night. We know that shouldn’t matter much but it does serve as a reminder to be aware of who you associate with and to be mindful of where you are late at night.

One more thing, as aforementioned, most of the incidents occurred on the South Side while the two shooting deaths occurred in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. Interestingly enough, a recent edition of URChicago Magazine contained an article titled “Lakefront Living” (March 2008, Volume 11, Issue 3) which attempted to encourage people to move to the South Shore area of the city because you can live on the shores of Lake Michigan and not spend a lot of money for it. Ironically, an area real estate agent said the area is a “great neighborhood with great buildings…But it’s the stepchild of the South Side. A lot of people are turned off because they think it’s the Wild West. But you don’t have to wear a bulletproof vest. It’s not like that.” (p.32) Umm…yeah, you’re wrong.

[Read]

[Read copy of URChicago] It’s a pdf

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

• 33 Days Later – Newark is still murder free!
• Not just a fire drill: School stages fake school shooting
• Oh No! Chicago is running out of snow removal money
• 4-year-old girl shoots herself in the chest with gun
• Looking to own your own airport?