No Murders For 5 Days, But Homicide Rate Still Up
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Less than two weeks after city officials touted the fact the city went 24 hours without a single shooting or homicide, Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged Monday that the city's murder rate is up significantly during the first month of the year.
As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, last January, there were 26 homicides in Chicago as of Jan. 30. So far this month, there have been 40 – a 54 percent jump.
Emanuel noted Monday that there had been no murders in Chicago for the past five days. On Jan. 29, city officials touted having gone 24 hours without any shootings or homicides in the city for a 24-hour period, the first time that had happened in a year.
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But the mayor acknowledged Monday that violent crimes are still at unacceptable levels.
"While I'm happy that there was a single day finally in a year without a shooting or without a murder … and while there were shootings over the weekend, there wasn't – in the last five days – a murder. That said, nobody can be happy with the level of shootings. I'm not happy with any of it.
The number of January shootings in general has stayed about the same compared to last year. In January 2011, there were about 140 shootings, the same number of shootings through Monday morning.
The mayor said more needs to be done on gun control and that the city needs new strategies to fight gang-related violence, but he said he's confident in Police Supt. Garry McCarthy's ability to fight crime.
