In Chicago’s most violent weekend of the year to date, some 45 people have been shot there since Friday, seven of them fatally, bringing a spate of bloodshed to the city a little more than a year after a similarly bloody Memorial Day weekend last June. Chicago rode a wave of gun violence last year, but police in 2013 have been successful in driving down the crime rate. The Tribune notes that the weekend’s rash of shootings and violence comes amid a “large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year.” Shootings are down 42 percent over last year through the end of April. But Chicago is waiting nervously for what the summer will bring, as warm temperatures often accompany upticks in violence. Still, even including the weekend’s violence, the trend now is toward significantly fewer shootings, police said. Let’s hope it stays that way.
