Twelve homicides were reported in Chicago in the last week, with two of the killings occurring in the Belmont Cragin community area on the Northwest Side, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data found.
On Monday, a 26-year-old man was shot to death in 2100 block of North Merrimac Avenue, police said. One day earlier, a 44-year-old man was fatally shot in the 2800 block of North Lotus Avenue, according to officials.
Belmont Cragin, which counted 78,600 residents in the 2010 Census, has reported six homicides so far this year, tied with Ashburn on the Southwest Side and West Pullman on the South Side for the 20th highest homicide toll of Chicago’s 77 community areas, according to RedEye data.
West Side’s Austin, which counted 98,500 residents in the 2010 Census, has recorded 30 homicides this year, the most of any Chicago community area.
Belmont Cragin–which is loosely bounded by Belmont Avenue on the north, Metra Milwaukee District/West Line tracks on the south, Kenton Avenue on the east and Nashville Avenue on the west–recorded five homicides last year, down from nine killings in 2012, a RedEye analysis found.
Citywide, gunshot homicides were logged in the last week in Chatham, Humboldt Park, the Near West Side, O’Hare, South Chicago, South Deering, South Shore and West Garfield Park community areas, according to RedEye data.
Meanwhile, a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death Sunday in the 800 block of North Orleans Street on the Near North Side, officials said. Two days earlier, a 3-year-old West Ridge boy from the 6500 block of North Seeley Avenue died after suffering wounds associated with abuse, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined.
Seventeen homicides have been reported so far this month. Twenty-eight killings were recorded in November 2013, according to a RedEye analysis.
