With 438th Chicago Homicide, City Passes Last Year's Total Before November

Mayor Rahm Emanuel lamented the deaths, but said overall crime is down

Two murders reported Monday evening brought the city of Chicago to a disturbing milestone: 438 murders. That's the total number of homicides in the city this year. And there are still two months to go.

The Chicago Tribune reports that number tied the homicide mark set for the entire year of 2011. It also marked the first time since 2008 that the city's homicide total hasn't decreased year-to-year and it means Chicago is on pace to see more than 500 killings for the second time in almost a decade.

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the rise in homicides was "not good," but pointed to statistics showing that overall crime has dropped.

"We have other milestones," Emanuel said at a Monday news conference. "One is overall crime is down 9 percent in the city, has seen the largest drop ever. Second, we're tearing down the 200th building today where gangbangers and drug dealers hang out."

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Things are still not as bad as they were in the '90s when homicides totaled about 850 to 940 a year in the city, due in large part to the crack epidemic.

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