CHICAGO – Diane Limas says the sound of gunfire has become so common outside her house that she’s frequently calling police to complain.
With increasing gang problems to blame, she even makes sure that her adult brother whom she cares for doesn’t leave the home dressed in colors that might draw the wrath of gang-bangers.
“I double-lock my doors,” she said recently. “I tell my brother to stay away from the windows. I’m calling the police every week.”
The rise in violence plaguing Chicago this year has even spread to unlikely communities such as Albany Park, a diverse working-class neighborhood made up of handsome brick bungalows and two-flats.
Through last Thursday, homicides jumped to nine in the Albany Park police district, up from just two in the comparable period last year, according to data from the Police Department. Shootings more than doubled to 23 from nine in the district on the city’s northwest side.
The South Loop’s Central police district didn’t record a single homicide in the 2014 period, but has had three so far this year.
The increase in homicides this year was 23 percent by Thursday, up from a 14 percent increase by June 1. Last Wednesday alone, eight people were shot to death in homicides, the most one day in more than 12 years.
For a second consecutive year, shootings incidents are on the rise, to 1,625 so far this year, up more than 17 percent from 1,384 a year earlier.
Experts say it is difficult to explain what is behind the surge in homicides and shootings in Chicago, but major cities across the country are struggling with similar problems, if not worse. In Milwaukee, homicides have soared to 106, up 80 percent from 59 a year earlier, a Police Department spokesman said Friday. Homicides have risen bout 60 percent in St. Louis.
In Chicago, gang conflicts have long been committing much of the gun violence. Police blame battles over turf and reputation for much of the bloodshed.
Tracy Siska, executive director of the Chicago Justice Project, an independent nonprofit research group, said: “Chicago has an endemic problem with poverty and a high concentration of segregation. The persistent problems with violence are rooted in poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunities. The city has abandoned some neighborhoods and doesn’t care what happens in some communities.”
Maria Elena Sifuentes moved to Albany Park from the Pilsen neighborhood 30 years ago, in part to escape street violence and shootings, she said. But now, on her block on Spaulding Avenue the sound of gunfire too often is heard.
“It’s terrifying,” said Sifuentes, 51. “I thought I was over with that part of my life. When you hear about shootings in other places, you think it’s not connected to you. But when it happens right here, it gives you a different outlook. It’s so sad to see kids killing kids.”
According to police records, most of those killed in the Albany Park police district this year had gang ties.
But when Manuel Arizaga, 34, a married father of a year-old daughter, was shot and killed in July as he left his Irving Park home to go to work delivering furniture, the community in northern Chicago rallied, calling a meeting on how to fight the violence.
“For the longest time we’ve had a safe neighborhood, and we want it to remain that way,” said Dennis Puhr, who helped organize the meeting. Rather than hide in their homes, Puhr said neighbors have made their presence known, walking about the area and sitting out on their porches to show they, not the troublemakers, are in charge.
“We decided we needed to come together and offer some support to this family,” he said. “We put together a contact list. People are walking a bit more and making an effort to get to know each other. We feel that’s a great deterrent to crime.”
Limas, 70, the Albany Park woman concerned about the increase in shootings in her neighborhood, knows the roots of violence run deep. She believes cuts to mental health services, low wages, school closures and lack of opportunity contribute to a rage that can fuel shootings and killings.
But for now, she just wants peace.
“If we don’t all start thinking about what’s causing the violence, then how will it ever stop?”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
