The Washington Post reported Tuesday on the shooting of 12-year-old Zarriel Trotter, who was walking home after playing basketball. Trotter was shot in the back by a stray bullet fired in a confrontation by two groups of men on the street, reportedly fighting over a girl.
In a tragic twist of irony, Trotter had earlier appeared in a February 2015 public service announcement decrying the effects of Chicago’s gang violence on its black youth.
The New York Times reported that Chicago’s gun homicide rate has nearly doubled in 2016. The city averages seven shootings and one homicide per day.
While gang violence skyrockets, police interdiction has dropped precipitously. CPD stopped, frisked and questioned suspicious individuals 20,908 times so far this year. That number is down from from the 157,346 instances at this time last year. Gun seizures are also down, from 1,413 last year to 1,316 this year.
