Chicago Finishes 2016 With Murder Rate Up 57% From 2015
Police recovered 8,300 illegal guns in 2015, a 20 percent from the previous year.
1.2.2017
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The heavily gun-controlled city of Chicago outdid itself by logging 762 homicides in 2016. That's an average of two murders a day, the most killings in the city for two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles combined.
Fox News reports that the increase in 2016 homicides compared to 2015, when 485 were reported, is the largest spike in 60 years. The nation's third largest city also saw 1,100 more shooting incidents than it did in 2015, according to statistics released by the Chicago Police Department.
Police recovered 8,300 illegal guns in 2015, a 20 percent jump from the previous year.
To staunch the bleeding -- literally -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last year that 1,000 officers would be added to the police department.
A spokesperson said one of the factors accounting for the increased violence is that officers have become more cautious out of fear of becoming the focus of the next "viral video" of police brutality or a fatal shooting.
That pullback has "emboldened" criminals. "Criminals watch TV, pay attention to the media," said the spokesman. "They see an opportunity to commit nefarious activity."
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