CPD: August shootings down 45 percent from last year

Shootings declined by 45.4 percent in August and murders were down by 47.4 percent compared to the same month last year, according to Chicago Police statistics.

This August saw more than 300 people wounded in shootings, along with at least 52 deaths ruled homicides, according to data kept by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Police still touted it as the sixth straight month to see a decline in shootings over the previous year, the city’s longest such stretch in four years, the department said.

Shootings overall are down by 16.6 percent this year compared to last year, police said. More than 2,500 people have been shot in the city in 2017, with nearly 470 homicides, Sun-Times data shows.

Chicago suffered one of its bloodiest years in two decades in 2016, with more than 4,300 gunshot victims and nearly 800 homicides.

Officers have seized more than 6,100 illegal guns, as part of a 34 percent increase in gun arrests over 2016, according to police.

“While we certainly are not declaring victory, our progress in reducing violence during the month of August has been significant,” CPD First Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro said in a statement. “This progress is due in large part to the brave efforts of Chicago police officers with the help of the technology we have put into place in some of our most active districts.”