2021 Ends as Chicago’s Deadliest Year in a Quarter Century

2021 Ends as Chicago’s Deadliest Year in a Quarter Century
Elizabeth French, in white, and her son Andrew (L) follow the casket of her daughter, Chicago police officer Ella French, after a funeral service at the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 19, 2021. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

CHICAGO—The year of 2021 ended as one of the most violent on record in Chicago, as a rise in the number of shootings left more people dead than in any single year in a quarter century, according to statistics released by the police department on Saturday.

According to the department, 2021 ended with 797 homicides. That is 25 more than were recorded 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996. And there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019.