As Chicago devolved into chaos during the rioting on May 31, the city had its bloodiest day in 60 years with eighteen murders in a 24-hour period.
The number of deaths jumps to 25 when added up with the rest of the weekend, Friday, May 29, to Sunday, May 31. An additional 85 were wounded during that weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
But Sunday, May 31, was the most violent day in the city’s known history since such statistics were first compiled back in 1961.
“We’ve never seen anything like it, at all,” senior research director at the crime lab, Max Kapustin, told the Times. “… I don’t even know how to put it into context. It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before.”
The next most violent day in the records occurred on August 4, 1991, when 13 people were murdered.
“The level of activity experienced over the last week has been unprecedented, and the Department is actively investigating multiple incidents across the city and working to determine the motives in these cases,” police spokesman Thomas Ahern told the paper. “The department is actively working to seek justice for all the residents impacted, especially those who have been killed or injured by these senseless acts of violence.”
The victims included a 36-year-old father of two, two 18-year-old girls, a college freshman, and many others.
For years, the Windy City has seen waves of bloodletting that have risen out of control. Year to date, 238 Chicagoans have been murdered with 1,308 shot. The number of killed seems on track with the numbers realized in 2019 when the city saw 463 murders and a total of 2,754 shot.
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