In 2025, Chicago recorded 416 homicides — the lowest annual total since 1965, a 30% decline from 2024, and a public health achievement that trauma surgeons, violence intervention specialists, and community workers across the South and West Sides called historic. Non-fatal shootings dropped 35% from 2024. The number of children and teenagers killed or wounded in shootings fell 15%. Every metric pointed in the same direction: a genuine, sustained reduction in the most concentrated form of physical trauma that Chicago's hospital systems, emergency medical services, and mental health infrastructure absorb every summer. The University of Chicago Crime Lab's analysis described it as a landmark achievement — while immediately flagging the risks that could reverse it. Those risks are now materializing.
Through the first four months of 2026, Chicago has recorded 130 homicides — up from 120 during the same period in 2025. More critically, 421 total shootings and 501 shooting victims have been recorded in 2026 so far, representing a 5% and 9% increase respectively over the same period last year. April 2026 alone saw 32 homicides — a 39% increase over April 2025. The uptick is concentrated in CPD's Area 1, which covers the South Side north of 79th Street, where the Grand Crossing (3rd) District has seen a particular spike after a steep 2025 decline. Superintendent Larry Snelling acknowledged the reversal directly, noting that approximately one-third of 2026 killings have occurred indoors, with some domestic and others described as disturbingly random.
