Chicago sees drop in shootings of young people

City of Chicago statistics show that the number of shooting incidents involving teenagers 16 years and younger fell 40 percent between 2012 and 2013.

Tuesday’s statistics come almost exactly one year after the slaying of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. She was a 15-year-old honor student who was shot to death last January a mile from President Barack Obama’s South Side house. The case drew national media attention and came to symbolize gun violence in Chicago.

But the report also comes weeks after Chicago police reported the number of shootings and homicides fell in 2013. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy say the latest statistics show that various violence prevention programs and policing strategies are working.