Chicago homicides are up 60 percent so far in 2012, according to local reports.
Between the start of the year and April 1, Chicago Police recorded 120 homicides, the Chicago Tribune reports. During the same period in 2010 and 2011, 75 murders were recorded. Nonfatal shootings are up too, by 37 percent, according to the Tribune.
Crime fell in areas of sexual assaults and burglaries, but gun violence remains a sticking point for Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who vowed to ultimately limit gang crime and decrease violent crimes.
Earlier this month, the mayor attended a two-day meeting in Washington D.C. focused on preventing youth violence. The summit occurred after a particularly bloody weekend in Chicago that left 16 people wounded and one man dead.
And homicide rates seemingly won't decline easily.
Early Thursday, a mother and her infant daughter were struck in bed by bullets that pierced the side of their family's West Pullman home. The baby was shot in the back of the head.
Late Wednesday night, a woman was shot in the face while driving. On Monday, a woman was shot in a car while sitting at a traffic light.
