CHICAGO – Before Dwyane Wade has even played his first game as a Chicago Bull, he has been touched by the city's violence.
His cousin was shot in the head and killed Friday while pushing her baby in a stroller on the South Side. Nykea Aldridge, 32, was not the intended victim. She was walking down the street after registering her children at school when police say two men opened fire on another man, unintentionally striking Aldridge. Her baby was not injured. Two men have been charged.
August is going down as the most violent month in Chicago in 20 years, as weekend shootings raised the number of homicides this year to just a few shy of all of last year.
A total of 67 people were shot over the weekend; 11 died. It was one of the deadliest weekends this year and pushed the number of homicides for the month to 84 with three days to go, according to data collected by the Tribune.
The city hasn't had a month with 80 or more homicides since October 1996, when 85 people were killed. August of that year also had 85 homicides and June of that year, 90.
Chicago has a lower homicide rate than many other U.S. cities that are smaller. But this year, the city has recorded more homicides, 487, and shooting victims, 2,800, than New York City and Los Angeles combined.
For all of last year, Chicago had 491 homicides, and 2,988 people were shot, according to Tribune and police data.
New York, with more than three times the population of Chicago, has recorded 222 homicides and 760 shooting victims, according to police crime statistics through Aug. 21. In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million, 176 people have been slain and 729 people shot, according to crime data through Aug. 20.
