Chicago is close to reaching another deadly milestone as the city nears 600 homicides for the year so far.
According to the Chicago Tribune, a double-fatal shooting over the weekend lifted the number of homicides in the city to 598.
That number is lower than the 586 murders the Chicago Police Department says has been recorded for the year so far, though the department's statistics don't include killings on area expressways, police-involved shootings, self-defense killings or death investigations.
The number is still 88 fewer homicides than the city had at this time last year, but remains significantly higher than recent years.
If Chicago records 600 homicides for 2017, it will be only the second time since 2003 the city has crossed that threshold, according to the Tribune.
Last year, the nation’s third largest city saw 762 homicides, the most in the last two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles combined.
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That’s compared to the 485 recorded citywide in 2015.
Recent months have seen a decline in the number of both shootings and murders compared to 2016, authorities said.
Shootings for the month of September declined by 15 percent and murders were down by 10 percent compared to the same month last year, according to statistics from CPD.
Still, over the last weekend alone, two people were killed and as many as 17 others wounded.
