The Trace Chicago, like many cities across the country, has seen dramatic declines in shootings and gun deaths since the pandemic-era spike. In 2025, the city reached its lowest homicide numbers in 60 years. And just recently, the city experienced its first homicide-free Memorial Day weekend in a decade. These are positive trends, but the citywide numbers don’t tell the whole story. As The Trace’s Josiah Bates reports, the drop in gun violence in Chicago was never evenly distributed.