The Latest Breaking News from David Brown

CHICAGO — Chicago entered the July Fourth weekend with some encouraging news: The unrelenting gun violence that the city has experienced over the previous two years continues to decline, with a double-digit decline in homicides, officials reported Friday.

The mass shootings occurred in the Loop and West Garfield Park.

Jalen Vales, 27, was charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated battery of a peace officer.

Re: "All for pride, pride for all", (Life, June 27).

Last year, the July Fourth weekend was a bloodbath on Chicago streets with over 100 people shot, 19 of them killed. Thirteen children were among the wounded, five of them shot within a nine-hour period.

The girl, Cashawnna Love, had been taken from the home two weeks earlier after she was brought to a hospital with burns on her feet, according to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Shanee Edwards-Keller is the mother of a 5-moth-old son, the same age of Cecilia Thomas, who was shot and killed last week in a drive-by shooting in the 7700 block of South Shore Drive.

After a Chicago Police officer was ambushed while responding to a domestic violence call, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had the grim statistics at her fingertips. “Domestic-related” homicides by firearm and non-fatal shootings have increased by a staggering 125 percent since 2019.

A Chicago police officer has been shot as he responded to a domestic disturbance

There were signs of old injuries as well as new ones on the girl, Cashawnna Love.

Cecilia Thomas was shot in the head in the 7700 block of South Shore Drive Friday evening.