Chicago homicides drop 16% in 2017

Homicides in Chicago were 670 in 2017, down 16 percent from 792 in 2016, according to data published Monday by the Chicago Tribune.

But the figure still surpassed killings in 2014, which was 494; and 2015, 446.

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.

Shootings in Chicago exceeded 3,500 in 2017, down from more than 4,300 in 2016 but up from more than 2,900 in 2015.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson attributed the decrease to community engagement and data-driven policing.

"There's still a lot of work ahead of us, but we're heading in the right direction," Chicago Tribune quoted Johnson as saying.

Johnson's voice has barely died, when Chicago's first homicide happened just two hours into the New Year. A 51-year-old man was driving a Toyota Camry on the Northwest Side when he was fatally shot.

The man was among 12 people shot Sunday and early Monday in attacks across Chicago as people rang in 2018 amid sub-zero temperatures.