Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago recorded 797 homicides in 2021, the most of any U.S. city and the highest for the area in nearly a quarter-century.
The Chicago Police Department reported that the annual total was 25 more than during 2020 and 299 more than in 2019. The last time the city experienced a higher number of homicides was in 1996, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to the staggering number of homicides, the report also revealed 3,561 shootings in Chicago during 2021.
The Chicago Sun-Times recorded an even higher number, noting the city’s 800th homicide on December 14.
Cook County, the county that includes Chicago and some of its suburbs, surged to more than 1,000 homicides for the year, the highest since 1994.
Sad and sobering homicide numbers for Cook County this year: 1009 and counting (777 in Chicago).
The last time they were more than 1000 in a year was 1994 when there were 1141. In 1991 the medical examiner’s office handled a record 1229 homicides. @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/GnfMu8gQk3— Craig Wall ABC 7 (@craigrwall) November 30, 2021
“We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago,” Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters last week, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence.”
Some have blamed the city’s bail reform practices as one of the factors behind the surging number of shootings. In November, The Daily Wire reported that Edmond Harris became the 50th person in Chicago arrested this year for allegedly murdering, attempting to murder, or shooting someone while out on felony bond:
CWB Chicago reported that Harris was arrested on February 12 “after he allegedly crashed a hijacked SUV in Lawndale.” For some reason, Harris was not charged for any crime related to the carjacking or crash and was instead charged “with failure to register as a sex offender in an unrelated matter.”
Still, failing to register is a felony, but Harris was released a few days after his arrest after posting a $1,000 deposit for his felony bond.
“As it turns out, Harris was a member of a prolific and extremely violent armed robbery and carjacking team that had been creating havoc throughout the city and suburbs for weeks, prosecutors now say,” CWB Chicago reported. “And five weeks after he posted that $1,000 bail bond, he killed an Uber driver in yet another carjacking, according to federal prosecutors.”
In addition to Chicago, The Daily Wire reported in December regarding an ABC News headline featuring 12 U.S. cities that have set annual homicide records in 2021. All 12 cities are led by a Democratic mayor as President Joe Biden’s first year in office was plagued by growing crime.
The dozen cities featured in the ABC News report on Wednesday included Portland, Oregon; St. Paul, Minnesota; Indianapolis, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; Rochester, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Austin, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In Joe Biden’s America crime is on the rise.
So far this year, 12 major American cities have new annual homicide records.
Every city on the list is run by a Democrat mayor.https://t.co/9YhN34HtA1
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) December 9, 2021
Philadelphia, ranked first among the 12 cities in the study, experienced more homicides than New York City and Los Angeles combined in the report, despite being a much smaller city.