CHICAGO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago dropped by double-digit percentages in 2018, according to data published on Monday by the Chicago Tribune.
As of Dec. 28, more than 2,900 people had been shot and there were at least 570 homicides, which decreased 18 percent and 15 percent respectively from 2017.
Last year, at least 3,567 people were shot and at least 675 homicides were recorded. In 2016, 792 people were murdered in Chicago, when violence reached levels not seen since the 1990s.
Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson attributed the decrease to improved technology, more federal involvement in investigations of gun crimes and continued efforts to rebuild community trust.
"Are we where we want to be? Of course not," Chicago Tribune quoted Johnson as saying. "But I do think we are taking steps in the right direction."
Chicago, the third-most populous city in the United States with over 2.7 million residents, posted its deadliest year in terms of gun violence in two decades in 2016. Before 2016, the last time Chicago homicides broke 600 was in 2003.
