(WTTW News)

Chicago has recorded fewer shootings and homicides through the first three months of 2022 than it did during the same time period last year, according to new police data.

March's 178 shootings and 37 homicides marked declines of more than 20% compared with the same month in 2021, Chicago Police Department data published Friday shows.

From the beginning of the year through the end of March, a total of 128 homicides have been recorded in Chicago in 2022. That represents about a 7% decline over the same time period last year. The total number of shootings this year — 508 — is also down nearly 13%.

Despite those declines over figures from 2021 — a year that ended with nearly 800 homicides, marking the city’s deadliest single year in a quarter century — the number of shootings and homicides thus far in Chicago in 2022 remains above 2019 and 2020 levels.

CPD data shows there were 401 shootings and 82 homicides by the end of March 2019, and 493 shootings and 98 homicides during the first three months of 2020.

Since January 1, police said they’ve recovered more than 2,500 firearms, which marks an average of more than 28 guns each day. More than 200 of those firearms were assault weapons, a 95% increase compared to the first three months of 2021, police said.

The CPD numbers released Friday also show there have been 433 carjackings in the city this year. Police said of the 72 vehicular hijacking arrests made this year, more than half involve juvenile suspects.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431