Sunday, Jan. 18, was one of the most violent winter days in Chicago’s recent history.

Seven people were shot and killed across the city in less than 18 hours. City violence data shows it was just the fourth January day to see at least seven homicides since 1991.

At least three of the victims were teenagers. Another was a woman, reportedly a mother of five, killed outside her home as she was on her way to church. A pair of home invasions on the West Side left two other men dead.

The depths of winter usually bring a slight respite from gun violence, though January 2025 also saw a similar spate of shootings. But still, the holiday weekend’s flash of violence — another man was shot and killed in Little Village on Monday — was a far cry from the steep drop in shootings felt across the city in recent years.

Chicago police officials declined to comment.

Just after 4 a.m. Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the head in the 5200 block of South Christiana Avenue in Gage Park, according to Chicago police.. Someone drove the boy — who remained unidentified as of Tuesday morning — to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Minutes later, about 5 miles east in the 6400 block of South Drexel Avenue, 36-year-old Kiara Jenkins was shot to death outside her home. ABC 7 reported that the mother of five was killed as she was leaving home to attend early morning church service.

Later that hour, in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, 40-year-old Kelly Brown was killed in his home when someone “opened fire from a rear doorway,” according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Another home invasion in East Garfield Park that morning took the life of a still-unidentified 37-year-old man. He was in his residence in the 3100 block of West Warren Boulevard when someone broke in and shot him three times, police said.

Two other teens — a 19-year-old man and 17-year-old girl — were killed in separate shootings later Sunday.

Angel Aviles was driving in the 5800 block of West Walton Street about 6:30 p.m. when someone approached his vehicle and shot him in the head and leg, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Three hours later, Melissa Catrejon, 17, was traveling in a vehicle in the 1800 block of North Latrobe Avenue “when she was shot at by a known male offender who fled the scene,” according to police.

That same hour, a 37-year-old man was fatally shot as he sat in a vehicle in the 100 block of East 118th Place in West Pullman. He remains unidentified.

The city finished 2025 with just over 400 homicides, the fourth consecutive year with sizable declines in violence. Even with that sustained progress, last winter saw a similar jolt of shootings when eight people were killed in the first six days of the year.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/20/chicago-january-seven-homicides-one-day/