The Fourth of July is a violent weekend for many cities, and Chicago is no different. This year, though, the city reduced the number of victims shot over the holiday weekend by more than 40 percent since last year, from 105 in 2024 to 60 in 2025. Between Thursday and Sunday, 11 people died from gun violence, compared to 22 last year. Chicago also experienced the second-lowest number of Fourth of July weekend shootings since 2019.
Still, there were at least two mass shootings over the weekend. Late Friday, seven people in the Back of the Yards neighborhood were wounded by gunfire. Less than three hours later, four more people in Little Village were shot.
The drop in overall shootings during the holiday weekend came just after Chicago saw its least violent Memorial Day weekend in at least 16 years. Some people thought it was a fluke, because of unusually cold weather. With another holiday weekend showing a significant drop, city officials and violence prevention workers now believe their strategies are working…