From Drop to Surge: Chicago Crime Increase Expands in Week 16

April 23, 2026 | John Kugler | Chicago Crime

SubX.News® Crime Report – April 23, 2026

Chicago crime is no longer just rising — it is accelerating.

What began as an early-year drop has now fully reversed, with violence pushing further above last year’s levels.

The latest data shows the increase is not slowing down — it’s intensifying across multiple categories.
This is no longer a rebound — it’s an established upward trend.

🔍 What the highlighted data shows

The marked sections isolate where the increase is actually happening.

The highlights show murders up 62% over the last 28 days and 100% in the last 7 days, alongside shooting incidents up 33% over the last 28 days — confirming sustained increases, not a one-week spike.

On the right side, the highlights show year-to-date increases in murders (+11%), shootings (+8%), and motor vehicle theft (+9%), meaning these categories are now above last year — not recovering.

👉 The direction is clear: the most serious violence is moving up, and it’s been building for weeks.

📊 How the data is counted (why it matters)

Both shootings and robberies are counted as incidents in the report — not by the number of victims.

That means one event, whether it involves one victim or multiple, is often recorded as a single incident in the totals.

Shootings still show some of that impact through separate victim counts, but robberies typically do not — meaning the number of people affected isn’t fully visible in the summary data.

👉 The result: the true scale of violence is often larger than what the incident totals show.

📊 Stats Explanation (simple + clear)

The Week 16 Chicago Police data shows continued growth in the most serious categories:

Year-to-Date (YTD):

Murders: +11% (120 vs. 108)
Shooting incidents: +8% (392 vs. 363)
Motor vehicle theft: +9% (5003 vs. 4576)

👉 Firmly above last year — not recovering

Last 7 days:

Murders: +100%
Shootings: +21%

👉 Weekly spikes continue — not slowing

Last 28 days:

Murders: +62%
Shootings: +33%
Motor vehicle theft: +9%

👉 Multiple weeks of increases — strong upward momentum

🧠 What it means

Week 11 — drop stopped
Week 12 — acceleration
Week 13 — increase began
Week 14 — increase established
Week 15 — increase expanding
Week 16 — increase accelerating

💥 Closing

The decline didn’t hold.
The increase didn’t stall.