Chicago surpasses 2011 total for homicides

With two months left in 2012, Chicago has surpassed the number of homicides it had for all of last year.

The 436th homicide this year came Monday with the shooting of 33-year-old Carlos Alexander in South Chicago. It was a grim milestone city officials wanted to avoid but knew was coming.

Last year Chicago recorded 435 homicides. It tied that number over the weekend when six people were fatally shot.

Chicago’s homicide rate has made national headlines for much of the year, starting in the spring when police reported the number of homicides was about 60 percent higher than for the same period last year.

Since then, the rate has slowed down considerably as police focus much of their attention on street gangs linked to most of the shooting deaths.