At least eight people are dead and more than 25 others were wounded in shootings over Labor Day weekend in Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago. The shootings were widespread, from the far south and west sides of the city and spanning north into neighborhoods that see far fewer shooting incidents normally.
At lease one shooting occurred in one of the city’s newly created “Safe Passage” routes, designated to provide a gun-free zone for Chicago students to get to school.
In the midst of Chicago’s bloody holiday, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy continued to tout the city’s overall decline in murders from 2012 and push for “stronger gun laws.”
“While there have been significantly fewer shootings and murders this year, one victim is one too many and there’s clearly more work to be done,” said McCarthy. “We will continue our close partnership with the community and continue implementing our comprehensive policing strategy, but to address gun violence we need stronger laws that keep illegal guns out of our streets in the first place.”
While statistics do prove murders and crime overall is lower than last year, when compared to 2011, the murder rate for 2013 is virtually unchanged, with 270 murders to 2011’s 273. As a result, after 2012’s outrageous spike in crime and murder, McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have continued to make claims of “progress.”