Businesses in Chicago are beginning to bounce back from the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic, but the city is far from the light at the end of the tunnel as it continues to be plagued by a growing crime wave.
On Saturday, a 31-year-old woman was stabbed to death while walking through the Loop neighborhood around 4pm. Police are still searching for the suspect, who fled on foot immediately after stabbing the woman in her lower back.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown said that the suspect was most likely a homeless person because the stabbing occurred near multiple homeless camps. It has not been revealed if the woman had any connection to the man who stabbed her.
Last Tuesday, a mass shooting left four people dead and four seriously injured in Chicago's Southside. Denise Mathis, 32, Rantanya Rogers, 28, Blake Lee, 34, and Shermetria Williams, 19, were killed in the home early Tuesday morning.
Police later said that the crimes were carried out by two gunmen who shot all but one of the victims in the head execution-style. Citing a preliminary report, Chicago police spokesman Steve Rusanov said that someone broke into the home some time before 5.40am on Tuesday and started shooting.
Later that day, four people were wounded and one was left in critical condition after a gunman opened fire in West Garfield Park, Fox 32 reported. This marked the city's fourth mass shooting within a week.
A 31-year-old woman was stabbed to death in the Loop Saturday afternoon, according to police
Police are still searching for the suspect, who fled on foot immediately after stabbing the woman in her lower back
Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown said that the suspect was most likely a homeless person because the stabbing occurred near multiple homeless camps
Denise Mathis, 32, Rantanya Rogers, 28, Blake Lee, 34, and Shermetria Williams, 19, were killed in last Tuesday's shooting in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. The victims are pictured above from left to right
All of the victims in last Tuesday's Englewood shooting had been shot in the head, as had three of the victims who survived, with the other surviving victim shot in the back
Friends and family are mourning the loss of the victims, who had gotten together for a birthday party in the home
There were 300 homicides in Chicago between January 1 and June 18, 2021, which is a 6 percent increase from the 283 homicides reported over same period in 2020, according to the city's Violence Reduction Dashboard.
In the same duration, there was an approximate 19 percent increase in shootings with 1,710 reported in 2021 as opposed to 1,432 reported in 2020.
The Violence Reduction Dashboard also breaks down shootings by sex, age and race, reporting that black men between 20 and 29 are the most affected.
'Even though Chicago is split almost evenly among its black, Latinx, and white populations, violence in Chicago disproportionately impacts people of color,' it reads. 'In 2020, 65 percent of victims of homicides or non-fatal shootings were black and 12 percent were Latinx.'
The city launched its Violence Reduction Dashboard last month, in conjunction with the University of Chicago Crime Lab, to support Mayor Lori Lightfoot's community-based violence reduction efforts.
The Mayor's Office Violence Reduction Dashboard shares real-time data on violence trends in Chicago
