With gun-related homicides up by more than 15 percent in Cook County this year, President Toni Preckwinkle was joined by County officials at the Medical Examiner’s Office to observe the sixth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. “The violence across our County, particularly in our black and brown communities, is absolutely devastating,” said President Preckwinkle. “Each one of our residents deserves to feel safe walking in their neighborhood, pumping gas at the local gas station and just sitting on their front stoop. Right now, that is not the case and it’s completely unacceptable.”

Cook County has seen a substantial rise in gun-related homicides this year according to the County’s Medical Examiner’s Office. To date, African Americans and Latinos were the victims of 99 percent of the 352 homicides in Cook County during the first five months of 2021. More than 90 percent of those homicides were gun-related. Seventy-five percent of the decedents were 35 years old or younger. “In 2020, Cook County confirmed a record 881 gun homicides and a total of 977 homicides,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar. “This year we are on track to exceed 1,000 gun-related homicides alone. We haven’t seen homicide numbers this high since the mid-1990s.” Cook County Health (CCH) and the County’s Justice Advisory Council (JAC) are putting initiatives in place to help combat the soaring homicide rate. In an effort to combat disinvestment seen throughout affected communities, the Cook County Equity Fund was established by President Preckwinkle last year with an initial investment of nearly $100 million. ownership.