Although the pandemic affected many, COVID-19 has also been accused of contributing to a record number of deaths due to gun violence.
At 18, Nasee Minniefield had just graduated from high school and had her whole life ahead of her, until she was shot dead for Halloween.
“I haven’t really been right since,” Nasee’s grandmother, Donna Minniefield, said. “I’m asleep, I’m sad, it hurts.”
According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Minniefield was one of 875 people who died from gun violence last year; 78% of the victims were black.
“This is by far the highest total gun-related homicide we have ever had. The only time we came to this place was in 1994, when we had 838 homicides due to gun violence. of fire, “said Natalia Derevyanny, a spokeswoman for Cook County Examiner’s Office.
“I see so many on TV and I’ve seen so many innocent children: children are killed and I would never have dreamed of a day in my life that I would feel the pain they feel,” Minniefield said.
Deaths from gun violence were not the only record of the year. Cook County also recorded a total of 16,049 deaths in 2020, which was also a record.
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These figures were increased by the 8,192 lives lost due to death from COVID-19 infection.
Pandemic stress is also considered a contributing factor to the unprecedented number of homicides during the year.
Chicago police also released the final number of crimes by Friday 2020, which showed that shootings and murders increased by more than 50% in 2020.
There were 769 murders in 2020, a considerable increase compared to the 495 murders recorded in 2019.
In terms of shootings, the city recorded 3,261 last year, a big jump from 2,140 shots in 2019. The number of shooting victims rose to 4,033 in 2020, from 2,598 in 2019.
This illustrates a growing year of violence after three years of progress, where many innocent children died and some police officers also became targets of gunfire.
Nearly a quarter of the murders occurred on the West Side.
City leaders and a new Chicago police superintendent were forced to fight civil unrest amid the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing various community policing strategies among other tactics. But police say general crime has dropped.
Police Superintendent David Brown promises to make improvements in building community partnerships and strengthening investigations.
“I believe our savior will be the vaccine against COVID,” said Dr. Faran Bokhari, head of trauma at Cook County Hospital. “I think people are so tired of being inside and not being able to do what they usually do.”
Another worrying statistic is the high historical number of opioid overdose deaths reported by the Cook County Medical Office. According to the ME, so far there are 1,599 confirmed cases and potentially up to 500 pending toxicology results.
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“Really, our worst fears were, you know, really, you knew, that we imagined the death toll from opioids increasing in a very problematic way,” Dr. Toxicologist.
But behind all the statistics, there are real families who have lost loved ones and are hurting. These families carry the pain from 2020 to the new year as they await healing.
New year of crime
Two people were hit by stray shots just after the new year sounded.
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About twelve minutes past midnight, Chicago police said a man and a woman were sitting in the living room of a house when shots were fired from outside.
The shooting took place at 8700 South Buffalo Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood.
The 51-year-old man is now in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and a 51-year-old woman has a pasture wound to the head. No one is under arrest.
A 41-year-old man died in the first homicide of the new year in Chicago.
Police said he was driving near 47th and King Drive in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood overnight when someone started firing.
The man was shot in the neck and crashed into the car.
Police have not made any arrests.
On Friday morning, Superintendent Brown issued a statement saying:
“2020 has been a perfect storm.
Public safety is a hands-on effort on the deck that requires not only police, but also outreach workers, religious leaders, courts, community organizations, and residents. However, the criminal justice ecosystem was deeply affected and disrupted by the global coronavirus pandemic and the death of George Floyd.
The rise in fatalities and homicides is not unique to Chicago, as many of the city’s top city chiefs and law enforcement executives are taking on unprecedented levels of violence across the country. Our Chicago police officers faced an unprecedented set of circumstances as they battled an increase in violent crime, which was made even more difficult by having to fight a health pandemic while facing prolonged periods. of aggressive civil unrest and looting.
Our agents have also been the subject of violent crimes in their own right, as shootings against CPD officers increased by 558% since 2015. As of January 1, 2020, 79 officers were shot in 2020, and 10 officers were hit by bullets.
While the rest of our city and nation faced a global pandemic, the Chicago Police Department also recorded more than 2,450 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the Department. Unfortunately, four of our DPC agents succumbed to COVID-related diseases.
Over the summer, we geared our crime-fighting strategy to a city-wide approach to deploying resources in areas with a high level of violence. This strategic change has had a positive impact on public safety and has slowed the pace of monthly killings that had accelerated during the first half of 2020. We have also devoted more resources to strengthening our narcotics research at the medium and superior drug traffickers, who have proven to be the main drivers of violence.
The best way to reduce crime and violence is to prevent it from happening in the first place by building bridges and trusting the community. Community engagement has become a central component of our unit-level approach to public safety, from the Detective Office to the city’s community security teams and critical incident response teams. This includes the Rollin ’Rec events held over the summer in collaboration with the Chicago Parks district, along with the upcoming launch of the Police Athletic and Arts League in 2021. We also expanded the Neighborhood Policing Initiative from two to five districts. this past summer and will expand to additional districts in 2021.
As we close a tumultuous year and prepare for 2021, our department’s vision for a safer Chicago will be rooted in a five-pillar strategy for strategic change: Growing community trust, Transforming change through reform, Official welfare, Guarantee of public security and Reinforcement of investigations.
The Chicago Police Department has a moral obligation to respect the dignity and sanctity of human life. This dignity and respect must be reflected in all aspects of our way of functioning and must permeate all aspects of our organizational culture.
Finally, I want to say how proud I am to be associated with the men and women of the Chicago Police Department. Regardless of the difficulties, the danger, they continue to come to the service every day and every night to serve and protect this great city. ”
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