Crime & Safety
Shootings Up 40% In Aurora During 2020: Officials
There were more than 150 shootings in Aurora last year, the most since 2004, according to officials.
AURORA, IL — Aurora saw a huge spike in shootings in 2020 despite stay-at-home orders and shutdowns throughout much of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to city officials.
City statistics show there were 154 shootings in Aurora in 2020, the most since 2004, the Aurora Beacon-News reports. That’s a 40 percent increase over the 110 shootings in 2019 and more than double the number of shootings a decade prior (75 in 2010).
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Last week, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman attributed much of last year’s spike in shootings to “petty and immature differences between rival gangs,” while acknowledging that joblessness and stress brought on by the coronavirus pandemic also played a large part.
Aurora recorded 11 homicides in 2020, and eight were gang-related, Ziman said. The city had 12 homicides in 2019, with five connected to the mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. that February.
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There were six homicides in 2017 and four in 2018, the Aurora Beacon-News reports.
Aurora recorded more than 350 shootings and 26 homicides in 1996 during the peak of a sustained wave of violent crime in the city.
Arson cases nearly doubled in 2020 compared to the previous year, with 32 cases reported, the report states. Much of that is due to an increase in domestic disputes, a fire official told the Beacon-News.
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Aggravated assault and battery cases also jumped by 40 percent in 2020, the report states.
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