500 people were murdered in Chicago, Illinois in the year 2012. The 500th person was 40-year old Nathaniel Jackson, who was shot in the head while standing outside of a store in the city’s West Side Austin neighborhood. This was a grim milestone for Chicago, as the city did not reach 500 homicides since the year 2008, which ended with 513 homicides. According to the Chicago Tribune, prior to 2008, the city had not seen the homicide rate above 500 since the year 2004. Sadly, although 500 seems very high, the numbers have actually decreased since the year 2001 when the city had an all-time peak of 667 homicides in one year.
