On Thursday, HeyJackass.com reported that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Sanctuary Paradise has hit 702 homicides for the year with the violence yesterday into this morning. The nation’s largest open-air shooting gallery has seen just under 4000 people shot so far this year.
702 homicides is the highest total in any year since 1998’s 704. It’s a safe bet this year’s #705 will come today or tomorrow, making this the bloodiest year since 1997. With six weeks to go, based on current trends, the Windy City will almost certainly crest 750 homicides by the end of the year.
Interestingly enough, the Cook County State’s Attorney saw this coming back in February in a DNAInfo story:
The city is on track to have 700 murders in 2016, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said Wednesday. That would be the highest number of homicides in Chicago in nearly 20 years.
Homicides have already nearly doubled this year, with more than 93 murders since the start of January. There were only 52 murders in all of January and February last year. If the city does have 700 or more homicides this year, it will be the highest number of murders since 1998, when 704 people were killed.
And so it is. With no end in sight.