Chicago continues to mourn 9-year-old Ariana Molina, who was killed in a mass shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood earlier this month.
As of Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe page established to support Molina’s family has raised almost $40,000 — through more than 865 donations — far surpassing the $10,000 goal.
Molina was killed and 10 others — including three under the age of 10 — were wounded by gunfire while they gathered outside a Back of the Yards home to celebrate a family member’s confirmation, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. In all, there were five victims under age 20, according to city data on homicide and nonfatal shooting victims. (Data from the city of Chicago identify victims in age groups roughly by decade: 0-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and so forth.)
A mass shooting is defined as one that kills or wounds at least four people. A WBEZ analysis of data on homicide and nonfatal shooting victims since 2010 reveals some troubling patterns:
More than half – 53% – of mass shootings in Chicago involved at least one victim younger than 20.
Mass shootings have occurred in 56 of the city’s 77 community areas, but nearly three-fourths of them have happened in just 16 communities on the city’s South and West sides.
Chicago leads the nation in mass shootings
There have been 449 mass shootings in the city since 2010, with 239 of them involving at least one victim under age 20, according to WBEZ’s analysis. So far this year, five of the city’s eight mass shootings have involved a victim under age 20, the analysis shows.
Overall, among the more than 2,100 victims of mass shootings in the city since 2010, about 25% of them have been under age 20. However, among the mass shootings involving victims under 20, nearly half the individuals killed or wounded have been young people.
While some mass shootings in other places have garnered national attention, Chicago has consistently led the nation in mass shootings. Data from Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group, shows there were more mass shootings in Chicago last year than any other U.S. city. In addition, only in Memphis were there more children, ages 11 and under, killed or wounded by gunfire than in Chicago last year, the group’s data show.
This year’s incidents include an early morning shooting in the Austin community on March 31, in which a 19-year-old woman was killed and four others were wounded, including three teenage girls.
While the April 13 mass shooting in Back of the Yards involved five victims under age 20, there have been four incidents in the city, since 2010, involving even more young victims. The most recent such occurrence happened on July 17, 2021, when six individuals under age 20, including five females ranging in age from 12 to 19, were shot outside a Saturday night party in Austin, according to city records and the Sun-Times.
Data can show where — but not why
The high number raises questions about why young people under 20 are so often the victims in mass shootings. But the data only reveal so much: location, date and time are captured. Details that might begin to explain why — the circumstances of individual incidents, which might be held in thousands of police reports and other documentation — are not included in the data.
Although mass shootings are committed citywide, the South and West sides bear the brunt of this class of violence. The WBEZ analysis shows that mass shootings have occurred in 56 of the city’s 77 community areas, but nearly three-fourths of them have happened in just 16 communities on the city’s South and West sides.
Those communities include Austin, North Lawndale, Auburn Gresham, West Garfield Park, South Shore, East Garfield Park, West Englewood, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, Humboldt Park and New City, the community area that includes the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Meanwhile, there have been no mass shootings in 21 community areas, including Edison Park, Mount Greenwood, O’Hare, Forest Glen, Norwood Park, Beverly, North Center, Gage Park, Kenwood and Hegewisch, among others.
Alden Loury is the data projects editor for WBEZ. Follow him at @AldenLoury.
