The steady growth in murders continued in Chicago during the first six months of this year, with 419 people slain, 12 more than during the same period last year.
Almost a third of the victims were under the age of 21, reflecting the increasing role that gang violence is playing in many city neighborhoods.
The number of victims under 21 was up more than 10 percent, from 115 to 129, compared with the first half of last year, according to an analysis of police records.
So common are the killings of young people that, already in 1991, more victims under 21 have been murdered in Chicago than during the entire year of 1985.
Overall, 279 people were killed by shooting, 83 by stabbing, 39 by beating and 18 by other methods, including asphyxiation and arson.
That adds up to the highest number of murders in the city since 1979, when 421 people were slain in the same time period. But there were about 220,000 more people living in the city at that time, which means the murder rate is higher now.
The number of slayings with guns remained at the same level as last year, despite an aggressive program by Chicago police to take illegal firearms off the streets.
Police say they confiscated a record 10,065 illegal firearms through June 15, compared with 8,523 guns in the same period last year.
In some areas of Chicago, gunfire, shootings and death have become daily events. And the amount of violence on just a few blocks in the South Side neighborhood of Englewood in the last few days underscores that fact.
More Top Picks Best Under Desk Bikes For Adhd
Nearly all of the neighbors along the 7000 block of South May Street know Lorine Blackman as ”Granny.” This week she has seen her grandson shot, as well as a 17-year-old neighbor girl. A third youngster, a 15-year-old, was also shot just blocks away.
As Blackman remembers it, shortly after she returned from church late Tuesday, her grandson Jerry went to lock her front door. As he stood in her doorway, a man ran up and fired a gun at him.
”He said, `Aw, I`m shot.` I said, `You stop saying that,` ” she recalled. ”He said, `I`m shot,` and then he fell in a pool of blood.”
Jerry Blackman, 17, was hit in the groin and thigh just after midnight Wednesday, police said. He was in fair condition Thursday at Cook County Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Then, about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Kendra Aridge, 17, was sitting on her porch just a few houses away, chatting with friends in the muggy heat. Suddenly, two boys appeared. The one with a gun opened fire, hitting Aridge four times.
A few hours later, a 15-year-old boy whom police will not identify was walking down 70th Street just a few blocks away when he was hit three times by a hail of gunshots fired from a passing car.
Both Aridge and the 15-year-old were in critical condition Thursday, police said.
”I don`t understand what`s going on myself,” Blackman said. ”When you live in a neighborhood and somebody hates enough to kill, then it`s time to leave.”
Only blocks from Blackman`s home, two women talked about violence on their block, where a 14-year-old boy was charged with shooting a 36-year-old man to death earlier this week.
”It happens so much over here,” one woman said of the shootings. ”We have to go inside all the time because of the shooting. This is my porch. I am supposed to be able to sit on my porch, but I can`t.”
Both women, longtime residents of Englewood, asked that their names not be used-because they are afraid.
”When we are walking down the street, we have to throw ourselves on the ground to avoid the bullets,” the second woman said. ”It`s terrible.”