Homicides spike 52 percent in Chicago amid coronavirus pandemic

Homicides have increased more than 50 percent in Chicago since the coronavirus pandemic began, officials in Cook County said this week.

The medical examiner’s office for the nation’s second-largest county said 95 percent of the victims were people of color, and Chicago has already recorded more homicides this year than in all of 2019, USA Today reported.

Some of the shootings during the pandemic have claimed the lives of children under 10 years old.

President Trump has argued that Democratic mayors in cities like Chicago are to blame for much of the violence.

In early June, Trump threatened to send the National Guard to Chicago.

“That’s not gonna happen. I will see him in court,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said in response to Trump. “It’s not gonna happen, not in my city. And I’m not confident that the president has the power to do that. But we have our lawyers hard at work and if he tries to do that and usurp the power of our governor, and myself as the mayor, we will see him in court.”