Chicago had one of the highest numbers of homicides on record for the city in 2016, with the number of both homicides and shooting incidents increasing sharply from 2015.
There were 762 homicides in Chicago last year, up from 485 in 2015. This number was more than both Los Angeles and New York combined, according to The Associated Press. There were also 1,100 more shooting incidents in Chicago than in 2015.
City officials and police blamed the increase at least partly on an increased number of illegal guns in the city, with crime statistics showing 20 percent more illegal guns were recovered in the city in 2016 than in the previous year.
According to the AP, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said many U.S. cities, not just Chicago, saw a spike in violence, including violence against police, and that the punishments for violating gun laws are too lenient. He added that the anti-police rhetoric gaining hold in many communities "emboldened" criminals and pointed to increased gang activity.
Attacks on police officers nearly doubled in Chicago in 2016, CNN reported. In response, the Chicago Police Department will add more officers in 2017.
Johnson said most of the 27 shootings that took place over Christmas weekend were gang-affiliated and involved attacks against rival gang members at holiday gatherings, ABC News reported.
ABC News contributor and law enforcement expert John Cohen said breaking the stranglehold of gangs over low-income neighborhoods is vital to solving the gun violence problem. “You have to address the underlying issues,” Cohen told ABC.
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