Joseph Anderson, who was found dead with a gunshot wound to the face on the floor of his Rosemoor neighborhood apartment Thursday night, is at least the 700th homicide victim in the city this year.
He was one of four people killed in separate shootings on the South and West sides Thursday as the city surpassed the 700 homicide total for the first time since 1998.
A total 0f 704 homicides were reported that year, a number likely to be surpassed in 2016 as the city appears on pace for 750 homicidal deaths. That includes 10 people who were shot or otherwise assaulted in prior years, but died in 2016.
Last year the city recorded 473 homicides for the entire year.
Shootings in the city are also far surpassing the 2015 totals, with Chicago Police reporting 3,165 shooting incidents through Wednesday. More than 3,290 people have been injured in those shootings, and that does not include the 629 who died as a result of being shot.
Police statistics show a 49 percent increase in shooting incidents over a year ago, and a 54 percent increase in total homicides, though police had only reported 654 homicides as of Wednesday. Police do not include prior-year incidents, shootings they consider self-defense or accidental, or fatal shootings that occur on interstate highways which are investigated by Illinois State Police.
Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Sun-Times earlier this year that the department counts only what it classifies as first-degree murders. Those are cases defined as: “the willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another. The classification of this offense is based solely on police investigation as opposed to the determination of a court, medical examiner, coroner, jury, or other judicial body,” according to the FBI.
Local
The 700th homicide happened about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, when Anderson was found dead with a gunshot wound to the face on the floor of his apartment in the 400 block of East 107th Street, according to Chicago Police. The Cook County medical examiner’s office had not released his name as of late Friday morning.
Earlier Thursday, a man was killed and another wounded about 1:15 p.m. in the backyard of a Roseland home when a shooter walked out of an alley in the 11200 block of South Edbrooke, police said. A 22-year-old man was shot in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 2 p.m., authorities said. His name has not been released.
About 11:45 a.m., a man in his 20s was shot repeatedly in an Auburn Gresham drive-by in the 8300 block of South Hamilton, and he died at Christ Medical Center, authorities said. His name has not been released.
The day’s first killing happened about 4:45 a.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Elijah Murphy, 38, was getting out of a vehicle in the 4200 block of South Racine when someone opened fire from a passing SUV. Murphy, of the 5700 block of South Bishop, was shot multiple times and died at the scene, authorities said. Family members said the father of four was being dropped off at work by his pregnant daughter when he was slain.
