Fatal shooting on West Side is Chicago's 100th homicide of the year

Tribune illustration (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Elyssa Cherney Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune

A fatal shooting on the West Side over the weekend was the 100th homicide of the year in Chicago, a milestone reached nearly a month later than the last two years, according to data kept by the Tribune.

A 36-year-old man was sitting in a car in the 5400 block of West Division Street in South Austin when five people walked up and opened fire about 8:45 p.m., police said. Authorities had earlier given an address in Old Town for the shooting.


The official count by the Chicago Police Department is 99.

Unlike the Tribune, it does not count expressway shootings or those involving police or those that have been found to be justified.


Last year, Chicago recorded its 100th homicide on Feb 24, according to the Tribune’s data. In 2016, it was on Feb. 22. Both years saw the worst gun violence in two decades.


The number of shootings and homicides this year continue to be higher than other recent years. In 2015, Chicago did not record its 100th homicide until April 10, in 2014 it was April 26 and in 2013 it was April 30.

At least 454 people have been shot in Chicago this year, again lower than 2016 and 2017 but higher than 2015, 2014 and 2013, according to Tribune data.


The toll from the weekend was seven homicide victims and at least 14 other people wounded in shootings, police said.


The weekend’s youngest homicide victim was a 17-year-old boy whose car crashed on the Eisenhower Expressway after he was shot on the Near West Side on Friday night, police said. On Saturday night, two cousins were shot, one fatally, while driving in the Back of the Yard neighborhood on the South Side, police said. They were in the 4900 block of South Ashland Avenue when two gunmen opened fire, killing the 32-year-old passenger.


On Saturday afternoon, a woman was found strangled in the 6300 block of South Rhodes Avenue in the West Woodlawn neighborhood.

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