Chicago continues to spiral out of control: weekend left 6 dead and more than 20 wounded by gunfire
Johnson unable to improve on Lightfoot's crime figures: 328 people have been murdered in the city so far this year.
Another violent weekend in Chicago. Between Friday night and Sunday there were at least 29 shooting victims - with six fatalities - according to the city's Police Department. According to authorities, investigations into the events are ongoing. No arrests have been made in connection with the cases at this time.
For the eleventh consecutive year, the city leads the list with the highest number of homicides of any city in the United States, according to a report by the Daily Mail. The previous year, 2022, was the worst year for crime rates in Chicago, up 41% compared to 2021. Homicides are 24% higher than in the previous year than in the same period of 2019. This was evidenced in a report by
The New York Times.
328 killed in Chicago so far in 2023
Between Jan. 1, 2023, and July 22, 2023, 328 people have been killed in the city, according to The Sun-Times which maintains a tally on its website of homicide data in Chicago.
Despite the fall of Lori Lightfoot, precisely because of the city's high crime rate, Chicago has accumulated several bloody weekends recently. The takeover of Brandon Johnson, who follows the postulates of his predecessor in terms of a soft-on-crime policy, has not reversed the situation, despite his promises. For example, last week 40 people were shot, with four dead.
"My son hears gunshots while playing in the park."
The security crisis has been reported by several people. Two months ago, an assistant prosecutor, Jason Poje, resigned after blaming Democratic State's Attorney Kim Foxx for turning the city into a crime capital. "I'm leaving. Why? Simply because of the fact that this state and county are headed for disaster," Poje explained in the email he sent to his colleagues in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Poje detailed that the policies of the state and county government are not the right ones. "Now my son, who is only five years old, hears gunshots while playing in the park in our neighborhood, and a drug dealer is selling in the open air behind my house, I will not raise my son here," Poje maintained.