In a city wrestling with a rise in gun violence and turmoil in its police department, August seemed like the longest month. By midnight on Wednesday, 90 murders had occurred in August alone, making it the deadliest month in Chicago in about 20 years.
(NewYorkTimes)- Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, has experienced more homicides this year than the bigger cities of Los Angeles and New York combined.
The number of deaths here this year, 471, is about 50 percent higher than the same period a year earlier. Nonfatal shootings have risen at a similar rate. More than 2,300 shootings have taken place so far this year, mostly on the South and West Sides and most of them involving African-Americans.
The daily counts of the dead and wounded have grown dizzying. Among this summer’s victims were a 6-year-old girl who was wounded near her house; a 10-year-old whose twin held his hand as he waited for help; and Nykea Aldridge, a young mother and the cousin of the N.B.A. star Dwyane Wade, who was killed while pushing a baby stroller.
The surge of violence comes at a trying time. The Justice Department is investigating the practices of the Chicago Police Department amid a crisis over police conduct and discipline and over distrust of officers, especially among African-Americans who make up one-third of the city’s residents.
With the death toll mounting toward 500 and the city’s violence fast becoming a regular topic of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, many here seemed to be grasping for explanations of August’s particular level of bloodshed and for new solutions.