Chicago’s Cook County surpasses 1,000 homicides for first time since 1994

The number of homicides in Chicago’s Cook County has surpassed 1,000 during the holiday weekend after Thanksgiving.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Tuesday the 1,000th homicide in 2021 happened over the holiday weekend. With just over a month left in the year, the number of homicides in Cook County stands at 1,009.

The last time Cook County saw more than 1,000 homicides was in 1994 when it recorded 1,141 homicides total by the end of December. In 1991, Cook County handled a record 1,229 homicides. Of the 1,009 homicides recorded in Cook County so far this year, 777 happened in Chicago. Under 23 percent of homicides in 2021 so far occurred in suburban Cook County.

The youngest person killed in Cook County this year was a 1-month-old boy, the oldest was an 84-year-old man. The medical examiner’s office said African Americans were the victims of 81% of homicides and Latinos accounted for just under 15% of homicide deaths so far this year. In 2021, 88% of homicide deaths were male.

The office confirmed 986 homicides in 2020 – a more than 40 percent increase over 2019’s total of 675.

The milestone was announced as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is in Washington, D.C. this week with the Illinois delegation to meet with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, and White House officials about bringing infrastructure, COVID-19 relief and other funding back to Chicago [Fox News].