Chicago recorded the fewest homicides last month of any May since 2007, though killings this year overall so far have ticked up compared to last year.
Last month’s 36 homicides in the city are one fewer than May 2025, according to Chicago police.
The drop in the past two Mays follow a COVID-era peak in homicides. In May 2020, near the start of the pandemic, 86 people were killed in the city. Chicago then averaged 64 killings in each May from 2021 through 2024, according to city data.
Entering June, Chicago had 167 homicides in 2026, up 6% compared to this time last year, police said. There also has been a 4% increase in shooting incidents so far this year compared to 2025.
Still, shootings and homicides have been trending downward over the past four years. Overall shootings have decreased by about 45% since 2022, and homicides are down about 35% since then, according to city data.
Chicago’s violence has historically increased during warmer months, and holiday weekends tend to bear the brunt of it.
But this year’s Memorial Day weekend was the least deadly of such weekends in at least 16 years. And last year, from June through August, Chicago recorded the fewest murders in that timeframe since 1965.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has said strengthened community-violence intervention, coordinated responses to crime and increased investment in the city’s youth all help drive down crime.
“We are encouraged to see summer homicides trending down, but let’s be clear: we refuse to accept any level of violence as normal,” Emmanuel Andrea, deputy mayor for community safety, said in a statement. “The urgency remains absolute, and this isn’t a moment to celebrate — it’s a mandate to work harder. … We remain locked arm-in-arm with our community partners to sustain this momentum and build a safer city together.”
Other crimes have declined citywide over the past year as well, with a 25% drop in robberies, a 16% reduction in carjackings and a 27% decrease in transit crimes, according to police. And on Chicago Transit Authority trains and buses, violent crime is down 20% over the past year.
Related Posts:
- Donald Trump hasn’t had a public event since his Walter Reed ‘check-up’ last week Entertainment Given how people still, to this day, wring their hands over Joe Biden’s health and age, it’s remarkable how little energy is being given to Donald Trump’s now-monthly disappearances and his constant visits to Walter Reed. Trump went to Walter Reed again last week, and he’s been barely seen since.…
- Rubio will testify before Congress for the first time since the start of the Iran war News By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to face a litany of questions Tuesday about the Trump administration’s fragile or stalling diplomatic efforts around the world when he appears for back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill for the first time since the…
- What Correspondents Have Been Fired From ’60 Minutes’ Since Bari Weiss Took Over? Entertainment <p id="par-1_58">Scott Pelley recently <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/stephen-colbert-admits-cbs-saved-life-late-show-cancellation.html/">lost his job</a> at <em>60 Minutes </em>after a disagreement with new management. Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief at CBS News and has made a <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/cbs-forfeiting-late-night-crown-canceling-stephen-colbert-expert.html/">number of shake-ups</a> at the long-running news magazine show. Pelley is not the first correspondent to lose his job…
- US jobless aid filings, a proxy for layoffs, hit highest level since Iran war began in February News By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans filing for jobless aid hit their highest level in four months last week, but layoffs remain historically low despite ongoing economic uncertainty brought on by the war in Iran. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the week…
- Two top Mayor Brandon Johnson aides had ties to tech consultant at center of hiring, contracting scandal News Mayor Brandon Johnson has dismissed a hiring and contracting scandal that was the subject of an investigation by City Hall’s inspector general as a matter involving a “previous mayoral administration,” that of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. But two top aides to Johnson had ties to the consulting company at the…
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)