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TOPLINE
Amid protests and looting in the city, 18 people were killed in Chicago on Sunday, May 31, which made it the single most violent day in Chicago in six decades, according to data from the University of Chicago Crime Lab published Monday.
A memorial is seen on August 1, 2019, where 26-year-old Chantell Grant and 35-year-old Andrea … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
KEY FACTS
The next highest murder total for a single day was on Aug. 4, 1991, when 13 people were killed in Chicago, according to the crime lab, which has numbers going back to 1961.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on May 31, the city’s 911 emergency center received 65,000 calls for all types of service, 50,000 more than on a typical day.
From 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, through 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, a total of 25 people were killed in the city, with another 85 wounded by gunfire, per Chicago Sun-Times statistics.
Critical Quote:
“We’ve never seen anything like it, at all,” said the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s senior research director, Max Kapustin. “I don’t even know how to put it into context. It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before.”
Key Background:
Like other major U.S. cities, crime in Chicago fell when stay-at-home orders and other shutdown measures were instituted to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. According to the Chicago Tribune, despite beginning 2020 with crime spikes, particularly related to gun violence, there was a sudden single-week drop of nearly 20% in major crimes in mid-March. From March 18 through March 27, Chicago has only had two homicides.
Further Reading:
18 murders in 24 hours: Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago (Chicago Sun-Times)
Lightfoot: ‘We did not stand by to watch the South and West Sides burn’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
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