CHICAGO — Chicago nearly went a full week without a fatal shooting, reports WGN.
The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune reported the city had passed such a milestone on Sunday morning for the first time in more than five years.
However, that was before the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office on Sunday afternoon reported the homicide of 22-year-old Antoine D. Watkins from multiple gunshot wounds. Police say they found him lying face down Saturday in a vacant lot about a block from where he lived in the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side.
Prior to that, the last report of a fatal shooting in Chicago had been on the morning February 26, after 23-year-old James Morris was shot multiple times while he was sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked mini-van in the Lawndale neighborhood. Police believe the attack was gang-related.
As WGN noted, while it had been a week since there was a reported shooting death in Chicago as of Sunday morning, there were several ongoing death investigations. This also included the death of 21-year-old Diamond Turner, whose body was discovered by a garbage collector on the Far South Side Friday. Watkins’ cause of death had not been identified. There were also 31 additional reported shooting injuries, according to police records, with six victims listed in serious condition, and three in critical condition.
The Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times report the city has recorded more than 100 homicides so far this year.
[Editor's Note: This article has been updated with new information from our Chicago sister station WGN. We originally posted information from the Associated Press.]