Murder rate in Chicago up 18 percent over 7-month period of 2007

Violent crime continued to rise in Chicago after a deadly July in which 62 people were killed, according to unofficial numbers provided by a police source.

For the first seven months of 2008, murders rose by 18 percent over the same period in 2007 and by 9 percent for the same period in 2006. According to internal police data, 291 people were killed from January through July, up from 246 in 2007 and 266 in 2006.

In May and June, the murder rate hovered at a 13 percent increase for the year after a spike in homicides in the spring. July furthered the uptick with 19 more murders than a year earlier. Still, that July tally fell three below 2006 levels when there were 65 murders.

The worsening murder numbers come a month after Police Supt. Jody Weis, in his fifth month in office, came under fire from aldermen for the rise in crime. The catalyst for some of the criticism was a fatal shooting near the Taste of Chicago during the popular downtown event.

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