Despite recording more than 570 homicides in 2024, Chicago actually saw signs of improvement, with that total marking the third consecutive year the city recorded fewer killings than the one prior.
In fact, 2024 was the first year since the COVID-19 pandemic that the city had fewer than 600 slayings before the turn of the calendar. The official figure was 571 just before Christmas, but no one is claiming victory.
Chicago saw a 7% overall decrease in murders and nonfatal shootings in 2024, a year hallmarked by the Democratic National Convention and another annual uptick in summer gun violence. But each of CPD’s five patrol areas — clusters of districts that blanket the whole city — saw a reduction in killings year-over-year, city data show.
“It’s not even just the homicides, but the number of people who have been traumatized by gun violence,” CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, entering his second full year as head of the department, recently told the Tribune.
“The benchmark for me is to get as much control on gun violence and violent offenders as humanly possible, getting them behind bars and getting them held, repeat offenders, and putting a stop to their violent behavior.”