Chicago’s murderous culture remains relentless, with more than 1,500 people shot so far this year, a figure that combines 276 deaths and 1,224 non-fatal cases reported by the Chicago Sun-Times as of October 4. That count pushed even higher over the following days, as additional shootings added to the total by October 6. Weekend reports alone detailed at least 30 victims, including five who died, across the city.
CBS News tracked nine separate incidents on Sunday, October 5, and two more early Monday, October 6, resulting in 13 people hit by gunfire and one fatality. These events follow a pattern seen throughout 2025, where weekly police data showed shootings surpassing 1,100 by late September.
City data portals and police reports confirm the scale of the problem, with homicides and non-fatal shootings logged in real time. Even as some sources note declines in overall crime compared to prior years—such as a 15% drop from 2023— the raw numbers of shooting victims tell of persistent danger on the streets. Summer 2025 marked the lowest homicide count in six decades, according to WBEZ analysis, yet over 1,200 people had been shot by early September, per independent tracking. Incidents range from mass drive-by attacks, like the July 2 event in River North that injured multiple victims, to everyday domestic and street confrontations.
President Trump has pushed for federal intervention, including National Guard deployment, to curb the bloodshed in Democrat-controlled cities like Chicago. Local leaders, however, have rebuffed these efforts.
Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the idea directly: “If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs that have been critical to our work to drive down crime and violence.”
Johnson dismissed broader federal troop involvement as ineffective. He added, “He is provoking on sending federal troops, the National Guard, into cities to plunder them, though those entities do not have policing power. They can’t even do the very thing that he claims that he wants them to do.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker echoed this stance during a news conference, refusing to request troops despite Trump’s insistence.
“I’m aware that the President of the United States likes to go on television and beg me to call and ask him for troops,” Pritzker said. “I find this extraordinarily strange as Chicago does not want troops on our streets. I refuse to play a reality game show.”
This resistance comes amid broader Democratic opposition to Trump’s crackdown on urban crime, with groups like Live Free Illinois working to counter federal assistance.
Not all voices align with city hall. Activist Zoe Leigh, founder of Chicago Flips Red, called out officials for prioritizing politics over safety.
“My mother’s originally from Chicago, and the fact of seeing seniors getting killed, our children getting killed, mothers getting killed, young men getting killed, and we are not getting any help at all… it’s starting to become normalized and that is not normal,” she said.
Leigh targeted what she described as the city’s “progressive Democratic gang” for turning down federal resources, arguing that the ongoing deaths demand action beyond local efforts.
Indoctrination
Despite the unambiguous needs for federal assistance in communities that have been failed by local governments, the pushback persists. As JD Rucker noted on a recent Substack, “Leftists Still Need to Be Told What’s Best for Them.”
Residents in high-violence areas offer mixed views. In Parkway Gardens, known as one of the city’s toughest blocks, Anthony Carter, a lifelong resident and community worker, emphasized self-reliance: “It’s within us to stop the violence. President Trump couldn’t do nothing about that.” Carter noted the significance of local opposition: “When you got neighbors in the worst community in the world saying that they don’t want the federal guards to come, that’s got to be something.” Darell McCoy, another resident, rejected Trump’s involvement outright: “Ain’t nobody begging for that man to come nowhere. They’re begging for him to leave and get out of the presidency.”
Younger voices share similar doubts. Student Charles Pierce, 17, worried about escalating tensions: “We need help, but not that type of help. A lot of us already don’t trust police as it is. So if military people come in, that’d make it worse, because they’re in the military, and all they do is kill.” Miracle Davis, 16, predicted backlash: “It’s not going to turn the violence down; it’s going to bring it back up.” Earnestine Gardner, an 81-year-old longtime resident, foresaw complications: “It’d be a lot of problems.”
As shootings continue to mount, the divide over federal aid leaves Chicago’s safety in limbo, with community programs clashing against calls for stronger intervention.
Heil Pritzker!!!