CHICAGO — With September nearly over and three months still left in the year, Chicago has had more than 3,100 shooting victims — 300 more than the number of people shot in all of 2015.
There have been 2,588 shooting incidents so far this year resulting in 3,173 people being shot, according to data compiled by DNAinfo from the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police. There were 2,327 incidents and 2,843 people shot in all of last year.
There were 59 people murdered during September, based on DNAinfo counts, pushing the totals for the year to 543. Last year, 494 people were murdered in Chicago.
During September, crime took center stage both at the local level and in the presidential race.
Police Supt. Eddie Johnson announced the hiring of 970 new officers, beginning in two of the hardest hit police districts on the South and West sides.
RELATED: Where Shootings Have Occurred in Chicago Since 2010 (MAP)
Mayor Rahm Emanuel followed up that announcement with a speech focusing on public safety that also included announcements on new mentoring programs.
"We cannot afford to lose another generation to gangs" like the Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples and Latin Kings, he said. "The deck has been stacked against the kids, and it's time we reshuffle that deck and put our kids on top."
During the first presidential debate, Republican nominee Donald Trump likened Chicago to a "war-torn" country saying "it is terrible there."
While Trump argued for an expansion of stop-and-frisk policies in Chicago, his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton called for "common sense" gun regulations and an increase in spending to retrain police officers to reduce what she called "implicit bias."
Shooting numbers during September were largely level with the previous year. As of Friday morning, there were 341 total shooting victims in Chicago during the month compared with 345 the previous September.
There were more shooting incidents this September (283) compared with last September (254).
Among the more high-profile incidents this month:
• Over the course of seven hours Thursday morning, three people were shot — two killed — within a mile-stretch of the Eisenhower Expressway. There have been 41 shootings on Chicago expressways this year. There were 39 similar shootings in all of 2015.
• A two-time convict is accused of fatally shooting a suburban man near Millennium Park.
• Two men died after shooting each other in West Pullman.
• A 71-year-old man was shot while watering his lawn in Marquette Park.
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