Chicago has reportedly reached a bloody milestone as the city nears the end of April.
As the number of shooting victims surpasses 1,000 for the year so far, Chicago’s violence remains on par with that seen in 2016, the deadliest in two decades, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Last year, Chicago reached 1,000 shooting victims by April 20, four days earlier than this year.
As of Monday, the Chicago Police Department had reported more than 770 shooting incidents in the city for the year, 208 of which have taken place in April alone. By Monday morning, the number of shooting victims reported sat at 969, but that number did not include shootings that happened on area expressways, the department noted.
According to Illinois State Police, there have been 19 shootings on expressways in Chicago so far this year, nine of which have been confirmed with victims.
Fueling the latest burst of shootings was a violent weekend that left seven people dead and 31 wounded across the city. At least 17 others have been shot since Monday morning, according to Chicago Police data.
At the start of April, the city had recorded 132 murders, police crime statistics showed. With five days remaining for the month, that number has climbed to at least 182, only two fewer than this time last year, according to Tribune data.
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Chicago’s bloodshed has been under national scrutiny so far this year, garnering attention from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bemoaned the city’s violence and warned of plans to “send in the feds.”
The city saw one of its most violent weekends of the year so far on Easter weekend, when 45 people were shot, two of them fatally. The violence this year has claimed the life of a Chicago judge and several others, including four people killed when a gunman opened fire on a South Side restaurant last month.
