After violent Labor Day, Chicago has already logged more homicides this year than in all of 2015

Chicago Police investigate homicide at end of deadly August

(Image credit: Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

published 7 September 2016

Labor Day weekend was relatively quiet and violence free in Chicago until Monday night, when a spate of shootings brought Chicago's total homicide tally for 2016 to 488, more than the 481 homicides logged in all of 2015 and also more than the combined 409 homicides in New York and Los Angeles this year. According to the Chicago Tribune's separate database, Chicago has notched 512 homicides as of Tuesday morning. The city's 92 homicides in August was the highest number since 99 people were killed in July 1993; at least 800 people were killed each year in Chicago from 1990 to 1995.

Chicago police attributed the late surge of shootings on Monday to retaliation, often from gang members, after a weekend of festivities and built-up tensions. On Tuesday, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson blamed the broader resurgence of violence in the city on gang activity, especially repeat offenders, and lax gun laws. "It's not a police issue," he said. "It's a society issue... people without hope do these kinds of things." Chicago police say that they have seized or collected more than 5,900 illegal guns this year. The BBC's Ian Pannell and Darren Conway take a look at Chicago's sharp rise in murder in the video below. Be advised that their report contains NSFW language. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.