In Chicago, 2017 Is Looking a Lot Like 2016

Jan. 31--One man was killed and 10 other people, including a 14-year-old boy, were wounded in Chicago from Monday morning through early Tuesday as the year has started out as violently as 2016.

More than 300 people have been shot in the city this month, more than all of last January, according to data kept by the Tribune. There have been at least 53 homicides, four short of the 57 counted by the Tribune in January last year.

Chicago Police Department statistics are lower because they do not include shootings on expressways, police-involved shootings, homicides in which a person was killed in self-defense, or pending death investigations.

But even by the department's count, this January is going down as just as violent as last January. As of Tuesday morning, the department had counted 50 homicides, the same number it recorded for all of last January.

The department did not provide statistics on the number of people shot so far this year, but instead released figures on the number of "shooting incidents." Those incidents could include more than one person shot.

There have been 229 shooting incidents this month compared with 231 this time last January, the department said.

Last year was the most violent in Chicago in decades, with at least 4,367 people shot. There were at least 784 homicides.

Among the shootings Monday through Tuesday in Chicago was the slaying of 19-year-old Patrick M. Franklin around 12:45 p.m. in the 4600 block of South Woodlawn Avenue in the Kenwood neighborhood. Police were called to the area and found the man unresponsive outside a home, according to police.

Franklin, of the 2700 block of South State Street, suffered a gunshot wound to the groin and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner. No one was in custody.

Franklin lived in the 2700 block of South State Street, about four miles to the north, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

About 4:55 p.m., a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg in the 3200 block of West 64th Place in the Marquette Park neighborhood, police said. The boy was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

The boy told police he was walking when he was shot. He has no arrest record and he told police he is not in a gang, sources said.

Two men were shot within blocks of each other in Gresham Monday night, police said.

At 7:30 p.m., a 23-year-old man was shot in the neck in the 7700 block of South Paulina Street, according to police, correcting earlier information that the shooting took place in the 1600 block of West 77th Street. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition.

About 10:50 p.m., a 29-year-old man was shot about two blocks away. He was in the hallway of a building in the 1600 block of West 79th Street when three people entered through a back door and fired shots. The man was shot in the right hip and stomach and went to Advocate Christ Medical Center where his condition was stabilized.

In other shootings:

--Early Tuesday, at 4:05 a.m., a 25-year-old man was shot and critically wounded in South Chicago. He was in the 8700 block of South Houston Avenue when someone shot him in the chest, police said. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition. Further details were not available.

--At 10:25 p.m. Monday, a liquor store employee was shot in Wicker Park. He was working at the store in the 2000 block of West Division Street when someone came inside and the two started arguing, police said. The fight spilled out onto the street, where the other person pulled out a gun and fired, hitting the clerk in the left leg. The victim, 26, went to Stroger Hospital and his condition was stabilized.

--About 9:50 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in South Shore. He was hit in the arm and stomach in the 2000 block of East 71st Street and walked into Jackson Park Hospital, police said. He told investigators had been getting into a parked car when two masked people on the sidewalk opened fire, sources said. He was transferred to Stroger Hospital and his condition was stabilized.

--In the West Englewood neighborhood, two men were shot about 2:05 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Wood Street. A 19-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, while a 21-year-old was shot in the back, according to police. The two went to the University of Chicago Medical Center and then were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized. They were in a car when someone on foot shot them, police said.

--About 11:50 a.m., a 26-year-old man was shot in the chest in the 3900 block of South Lake Park Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood. Police said he was in serious condition.

--Police said they are searching for two men who shot a 50-year-old man on the West Side about 11:20 a.m. Police said the man was shot in the arm and both legs in the 3900 block of West Arthington Street near South Pulaski Road in West Garfield Park.

Authorities said paramedics stabilized the condition of the man, who was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. Police were looking for two men who ran east after the shooting. One was wearing a red vest, another was wearing a black coat.

The addresses for shootings about 11:50 a.m. Monday in the Oakland neighborhood and about 12:45 p.m. in the Kenwood neighborhood have been corrected.

(c)2017 the Chicago Tribune