Eight people were killed and 50 others wounded in dozens of shootings across Chicago over the Labor Day weekend, city officials said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump signaled he may send federal forces to the city amid plans to expand immigration enforcement.
The shootings, concentrated on the South and West sides, included 58 people shot in 37 separate incidents between Friday night and Monday night, according to preliminary Chicago Police Department data. Most victims were reported in good or fair condition, though several were listed in serious or critical condition, including a 17-year-old, and in most cases no suspect was in custody.
The weekend toll surpassed last year’s Labor Day figures, when seven people were killed and more than 20 wounded. Chicago recorded 573 homicides last year, or about 21 per 100,000 residents, according to data cited by the Rochester Institute of Technology; officials say the city’s overall homicide rate has fallen from pandemic-era highs, with the department reporting 278 murders through August this year, a 31% drop compared with the same eight-month period in 2024.
Trump has seized on the recent violence to press for a greater federal role, posting on his social media platform that Chicago is “the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far.” Asked about deploying the National Guard, he said, “We're going in,” but added, “I didn't say when,” and insisted, “We have the right to do it.” The National Guard is already deployed in the District of Columbia for other purposes.
City and state leaders pushed back against the idea of troops on Chicago streets. Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday signed an order saying Chicago police will not collaborate with military personnel on patrols or on civil immigration enforcement, and that city officers will not be “deputized to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president.” Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged crime concerns but said last week that responding with troops would be the wrong approach. “Any person that gets killed or hurt is a victim of crime, is somebody that we ought to be addressing the challenges for. And we’re doing that every day. But the way to do it is with police officers, not with troops,” he said.
The debate over federal involvement has merged with broader national arguments about crime and immigration. The Trump administration has signaled plans to ramp up immigration enforcement in Chicago, and allies of the president have said federal agents will have a greater presence in coming weeks. Mayor Johnson labeled the administration’s approach “out of control.”
Local officials for years have pointed to the flow of firearms from neighboring states with looser gun laws as a key driver of street violence in Chicago. “Chicago will continue to have a violence problem as long as red states continue to have a gun problem,” Johnson said. Federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies have routinely targeted so-called straw purchasers who buy guns legally in other states and illegally resell them to criminal groups in Chicago.
Researchers and law enforcement note that Chicago’s violence is geographically concentrated. Neighborhoods with the highest homicide rates have dramatically higher levels of deadly violence than more affluent areas, according to analyses by the University of Chicago Crime Lab. Police publish weekly crime statistics online and have pointed to overall declines in homicides and shootings compared with recent years, even as summer holiday weekends often bring localized spikes in violence.
The weekend shootings underscore the persistent challenge facing city leaders as they seek to reduce gun violence while navigating national politics. Efforts to curb trafficking of firearms, target illegal gun sales and expand community-based violence prevention programs remain central to the city’s strategy, officials say, even as federal-state disputes over the proper role of the military and immigration agents on the streets intensify.
Authorities continue to investigate each of the weekend incidents. Police and city officials urged residents with information to come forward and reiterated public-safety resources available to communities most affected by the violence.