Chicago saw its least violent 4th of July weekend in at least seven years, continuing a two-year decline in violent crime victims during the Independence Day weekend.
Five people were killed and 23 were hospitalized in shootings, assaults or stabbings throughout the city between 5 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Monday, according to the Chicago Police Department.
That’s down from the nine people killed and 40 injured during last year’s July 4 weekend, and the 19 killed and 86 injured during the same weekend in 2024.
Two of the homicides occurred within hours early Monday in West Englewood on the South Side.
Around 2:40 a.m., a 72-year-old man was fatally stabbed during an argument in the 6200 block of South Laflin Street and about two hours earlier a person was found fatally shot on a sidewalk in the 7300 block of South Racine Avenue, according to police.
A 31-year-old man was found shot in an Austin home Sunday afternoon and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died, officials said. Another man, 33, was found fatally shot in West Garfield Park early Sunday.
A 52-year-old man was found fatally assaulted early Friday in Pilsen, police said. He suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Those injured also included seven people, six of them teenagers, shot outside a large gathering early Sunday morning.
Also among the victims of the weekend’s violence were two Chicago police officers who were shot during an altercation with a man who they say fled from a traffic stop in South Shore Friday afternoon. One of the officers was shot by the suspect; officials said whether the second officer was shot by the other officer is still under investigation.
The suspect in that incident was shot and apprehended by officers and is due to appear in court Monday. Malik Wrightsell, 34, faces multiple felony charges, including attempted murder and aggravated battery against a peace officer.
At a press conference outside University of Chicago Medical Center — where the injured officers were taken Friday — Mayor Brandon Johnson pointed to a number of city-sponsored activities for kids being held late into the night to keep them off the street as part of the city’s holiday weekend safety plan.
Johnson said it was key in keeping Memorial Day violence down. That weekend saw two deaths and 38 injured, continuing a downswing in holiday weekend violence after Chicago had its fewest homicides since 1965 last year, as well as its fewest summer homicides in 60 years.
But at the same press conference, outgoing CPD Supt. Snelling said much of the holiday weekend violence the city has come to expect stems from groups at gatherings for holiday weekends who end up being unable to “resolve conflict without violence.”
However, several fireworks displays and other holiday weekend activities were canceled due to inclement weather. From July 2 through July 4, O’Hare Airport recorded more than 3.5 inches of rain — and 1.71 inches of that total fell on July 3, breaking the record for that day of 1.57 inches, set in 1871. Midway Airport saw a little over 3 inches of rain over those same three days.
“We have to be better as people, we have to stop resolving issues with deadly violence,” Snelling said. “Lives are being lost. … We should not allow our skin, our gender, our language or our uniforms to be a barrier for communication. Everyone should want some sense of peace.”