Six shooting deaths on the South and West sides, a fatal stabbing in Little Village and a vehicular homicide in Chicago Lawn. About a week into the new year, violence in Chicago ticked up slightly, and Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Department leaders already face headwinds in their efforts to keep the city’s annual homicide total under 500 with the historically violent summer months still to come. Chicago saw eight homicides in the first six days of 2025, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Another 28 people suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds, and three of them were initially listed in critical condition. Two of the killings occurred inside a residence, and records show CPD detectives classified both as “domestic related.” A suspect was arrested and charged with murder in each case. Another man, shot last month, died of his injuries Jan. 4. The Police Department, though, will add his case to 2024’s tally of homicides. Those totals are up from the first six days of 2024, when the city recorded seven killings and another 20 people were wounded by gunfire, records show. In all January 2024, Chicago saw 35 killings with another 102 people shot and wounded, a substantial decrease from 2023. Most of the gunfire has, so far this year, occurred in neighborhoods that for decades have borne the brunt of the city’s violence. 2025’s first fatal shooting occurred in the 1200 block of South Sawyer Avenue in North Lawndale, while the most recent happened just west of the United Center early Monday. Addressing the City Club of Chicago last month, Johnson called for the city to finish 2025 with 500 or fewer murders, a benchmark not reached since 2019. Chicago ended 2024 with 574 killings and nearly 2,200 more people shot and wounded, according to city records. “Yes, we have work to do, but in 2025 we have the opportunity for the first time in over a decade to have less than 500 homicides,” Johnson said. “We have an opportunity for less life to be lost if we actually put in the hard work, roll up our sleeves, and not allow the narrative that comes from the outside to determine who we are as a city. … We are Chicago. We have come through some of the most treacherous times, and we have been trendsetters from our inception.” There are reasons for optimism too. After a nationwide spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, violent crime is trending downward in cities across the country. Chicago is no exception. “A benchmark for success for me is to have no homicides, if that’s possible, but we know the reality of it,” Superintendent Larry Snelling previously said. “When we think about lives lost, any number of deaths is unacceptable. So to reduce homicides as much as possible means that we have to reduce shootings as much as possible.” A basketball goal on the sidewalk outside houses in the Chicago Housing Authority’s Lowden Homes along the 9400 block of South Harvard Avenue on Jan. 1, 2025. Chicago’s first homicide occurred near here. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) In addition to 2024’s decline in homicides, the city also recorded a 7% drop in total shooting incidents and a 4% decline in the number of overall shooting victims. The department’s bureau of detectives cleared 322 murder cases in 2024, leading to a clearance rate of 56%, Snelling previously said. “You can’t go into a new year with some, simply, old ideas. We have to have new ideas,” Snelling said last month. “We have to have a focus on what it is that we’re trying to reduce. And if we’re trying to reduce violent crime, the most important thing here is to get to the bottom of it, resolve it, hold those accountable who are committing those violent acts, break down crime patterns, and when we can do that we start to see a reduction in crimes.”