Chicago's violence was once again spotlighted on a national level as Donald Trump mentioned the city's headline-making shootings during his speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention.
The speech closed the four-day convention and saw Trump accepting the GOP presidential nomination. It centered on his plan to restore safety in the country.
"I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end," Trump said.
He then goes on to list prominent crime stats across the country, highlighting those in Chicago.
"In the president's hometown of Chicago, more than 2,000 have been the victims of shootings this year alone," he said. "And more than 3,600 have been killed in the Chicago area since he took office."
The city's violence was also mentioned Thursday at the convention by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel "needs to do what I did."
“They are shooting people in Chicago like it is a shooting gallery,” he said, citing the more than 60 people shot over Memorial Day weekend in the city.
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When asked about the Chicago remarks, Giuliani said despite the Windy City’s gun control laws, “they have three and a half times the murder rate of New York.”
“[Emanuel] needs to make his police proactive rather than reactive,” he said. “He needs to hire police trained to prevent crime rather than just react to crime when it’s over. He needs to do what I did. Tell all police officers, ‘I have your back.’”
Trump has also commented on the city’s violence in recent weeks, tweeting earlier this month that “crime is out of control and rapidly getting worse.”
“Look what is going on Chicago and our inner cities. Not good!” the tweet read.
Chicago has seen a spike in violence in 2016. So far this year, there have been 2.223 shootings, nearly 3,000 shooting victims and 358 homicides, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Earlier this week, a 6-year-old girl became one of more than 20 children under the age of 13 to be shot in the city so far this year. The child was shot in broad daylight while playing with family members outside her home on a warm summer day.
"The level of gun violence on the south and west sides of our city is absolutely unacceptable, and it’s appalling when our children are caught in the crossfire of individuals who have no regard for human life," Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a statement. "To safeguard our neighborhoods and our children, it is imperative that we establish a culture of accountability for repeat gun offenders in Chicago and hold them responsible for senseless gun crime."
