So far in 2021, the Illinois State Police has seen nearly half the amount of Chicago-area expressway shootings reported in all of 2020, the agency confirmed to NBC 5 Monday.
From Jan. 1. to April 12, 2021, troopers were called to a total of 62 expressway shootings, the Illinois State Police said. For the same time period in 2020, police responded to 23 expressway shootings.
A total of 128 expressway shootings were reported in all of 2020, police revealed.
In the most recent incident, four people were shot, one fatally, early Monday Morning on the Eisenhower Expressway at Damen Avenue.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Of the shootings that have occurred so far in 2021, 30 have caused injuries and seven have resulted in fatalities. A total of 42 gunshot victims have been reported.
In all of 2020, 49 shootings with injuries were reported, along with seven incidents in which people were killed. A total of 72 victims were injured, police said.
Local
As NBC 5 Investigates reported in November of last year, a stunning number of shootings, in comparison to 2019, had occurred up to that point. If shootings continue at the current pace, the number of incidents recorded in 2021 would well exceed the number reported in 2020.
Col. David Byrd, deputy director of the Illinois State Police, told NBC 5 at the time that shootings have exploded in frequency and that the problem seems to be shockingly unique to Chicago.
"I've actually talked to other officials from other police agencies throughout the nation," he said at the time. "They're dumbfounded. They don't know what to say to me... I mean their jaws drop!"
In December of 2020, the region saw expressway shootings for eight days in a row.
Anyone with information about any expressway shooting is urged to call the Illinois State Police at 847-294-4400.
