(WTTW News)
The number of shootings and homicides in January 2022 dropped slightly from the same time last year in Chicago, but the city is still off to one of its deadliest starts in the last 20 years.
Data published Tuesday by the Chicago Police Department shows there were 182 shootings and 48 homicides last month. Those figures are down 10% and 13%, respectively, over totals from January 2021.
Despite that decline, last month’s homicide total is still the fourth deadliest single January in the city since 2000, according to CPD data, trailing only 2021, 2017 and 2016. The nearly 800 homicides recorded in 2021 marked the highest total since the 1990s.
Those killed last month included a 16-year-old boy who was fatally shot over the weekend, and 8-year-old Melissa Ortega, who was killed as she walked with her mother in Little Village. In total, 219 people were shot in Chicago in January 2022, a 9% decline over the same month last year.
According to the CPD, detectives cleared 27 murder cases last month, while officers recovered 791 guns — an average of 25 guns per day.
The CPD said its Vehicular Hijacking Task Force also made 142 carjacking related arrests in January, including 27 for vehicular hijacking.
“Our officers and detectives have been relentless in the Department’s steadfast efforts to bring justice to crime victims,” Police Superintendent David Brown said in a statement. “The Chicago Police Department is sending a clear message that we will not tolerate violence on our streets and hold accountable all those who engage in criminal acts.”
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
