Records are made to be broken. But there are some records that no one wants to see broken.
I’ve been tracking the weekend shootings and murders in Chicago for months. The bloodshed and violence have been unrelenting and unprecedented. Every weekend, dozens of people are shot. Every weekend several of them are mortally wounded.
This weekend was no exception. Forty people were shot and six of them died. Just another weekend in Chicago.
The violence does not discriminate based on age or gender. Women, teenagers, and children have been senselessly shot and killed this year. Some were the intended targets while others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
CHILDREN NOT SPARED FROM VIOLENCE
The number of shooting victims under the age of 10 has tripled from last year. July was by far the deadliest month for youngsters in 2020. A 7-year-old girl was shot and killed in Independence Day. Also in July, a three-year-old girl was shot and seriously wounded. Then a 5-month-old baby was shot and wounded. But the youngest victim was a baby who was shot while riding in a car.
Without a doubt, the most high profile murder was that of 9-year-old Janari Ricks. He was murdered by 39-year-old Darrell Johnson while the 4th grader played outside his grandmother’s house.
Surveillance videos and neighbors were instrumental in the arrest of Janari’s killer. But that’s unusual. Most of Chicago’s shootings and murders go unsolved. Many are gang-related.
At the time of his death in July, Janari was the fifth child age 10 or younger to be shot and killed in Chicago.
These and other shootings and murders have put Chicago on track to break all-time records in the deadly city. With three weekends left in the year, and no slowdown in the violence, Chicago may reach the unenviable milestone of the highest shooting and murder rate in the city’s already bloody history.
Image from: chicagotribune.com
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