The 4th of July weekend in Chicago marked yet another deadly string of shootings and murders in the crime-ridden city, with over 100 people wounded and 19 people dead due to gun violence.
As reported by Fox News, two of the deceased were women who used their own bodies to protect children from the gunfire on July 4th: 45-year-old Neekshia Strong and 24-year-old Capri Edwards. In addition, all three of the boys who were with them – one 5-year-old and two 8-year-olds – were still hit by bullets, with one of the children dying of his injuries.
“There was also a 1-year-old at that location inside the home, who luckily and thankfully was not harmed but was traumatized by the event,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling at a press briefing on Monday.
Another shootout in Little Italy resulted in eight people wounded, with the ages of the victims ranging from 18 to 74.
Snelling further called upon Chicagoans to come forward with any information they might have that could identify the culprits in these shootings.
“Somebody knows something,” he continued. “Somebody knows who the offenders are in these cases, and it’s really important that we work with our communities and our communities understand that we’re trying to work with [them].”
“These are not just numbers on pages, these are not just headlines in the news,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson at the briefing. “No, these are our fellow Chicagoans, our neighbors, family members, who’ve lost their lives.”
“We will not let criminal activity ruin and harm our city,” Johnson added.
Although the overall murder rate in Chicago has declined for the last two years, following a surge in 2020 and 2021 during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, the rate of violent crime has continued to increase primarily due to a spike in robberies. For example, the number of yearly car thefts between 2020 and 2023 tripled, from 9,910 to 29,287.
Crime in Chicago has become an increasingly scrutinized issue ahead of the city’s planned hosting of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. It will be the first DNC hosted in Chicago since 1968, where the convention was infamously targeted by far-left rioters who clashed with police outside of the convention hall. Ongoing anti-Israel riots have led to expectations that the 2024 convention could see a similar outbreak of violence, on top of the pre-existing crime rate that could prove dangerous for attendees.