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Chicago to say goodbye to deadliest 2016

Xinhua, December 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

With still four days to go before say goodbye to 2016, Chicago already reported a deadliest year in 2016, as the number of homicides reached around 770.

The last time the city had the homicides top 700 was in 1998. Chicago homicides in 2015 were at 492.

The total number of people shot in Chicago so far this year has exceeded 4,300, as against 2,989 shooting victims in 2015, according to statistics collected by Chicago Tribune.

Chicago also experienced the most violent Christmas holiday weekend in the past week, when 11 people were shot dead and 33 wounded. The figure was 7 and 29 in 2015 and 7 and 35 in 2014.

"The violence primarily occurred in areas with historical gang conflicts on the South and West sides of the city," said Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, "the majority of these shootings and homicides were targeted attacks by gangs against potential rival gang members and groups."

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi is more specific, saying 90 percent of those killed during the weekend "had gang affiliations, criminal histories" .

The year of 2016 is eventful for Chicago, the third-most populous city in the United State. Only in the summer, 69 were shot, six of them fatally at the Memorial Day weekend; 66 were shot, five of them fatally at the Fourth of July weekend; and 65 were shot, 13 of them fatally at the Labor Day weekend.

And Chicago has recorded the bloodiest May in 21 years, the bloodiest July in 10 years, and the bloodiest August in 20 years.

While citing gang conflicts for increased violence in Chicago, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson used to admit in the summer that in "impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of thing". He said "it's not a police issue, it's a society issue".

The distrust of police in these neighborhoods has to certain extent aggravated the situation.

The fact is: in some impoverished neighborhoods in south and west sides of Chicago, residents see the police as adversaries rather than protectors.

Chicago is notorious for shooting that happens every day. And data show that the situation has become worse in 2016. Endite