Tagged: murder

Transcript

MARIA HINOJOSA, HOST:

We turn now to another story that's making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It's been a bloody year in the Windy City. More than 250 people have reportedly been murdered so far this year in Chicago. That number is up about 38 percent from the same time last year, and now people are asking just what Mayor Rahm Emanuel is doing about it.

He faced reporters yesterday and said some of the old plans to stop violence weren't working now.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

A day of sporadic gun violence in New Orleans, including an evening rush-hour shooting near a major thoroughfare, has left two adults and one child dead.

The latest police report indicated the child, a girl, was 5 years old. She was among those hit in the rush hour shooting in New Orleans' Central City neighborhood. Police said a 33-year-old woman also was killed. Three others, including a 10-year-old boy and two men were hit but their injuries were not believed life threatening. At least one man was seen firing a weapon. No suspects had been arrested as of Tuesday night.

The staggering low point of a day in which nine people were shot in New Orleans came at mid-afternoon, when a five-year-old girl and another innocent bystander were left mortally wounded outside a young boy's tenth birthday party.

The murder rate in New Orleans has consistently been well above the national average. But Mayor Mitch Landrieu is searching for answers to change that. He speaks with host Michel Martin about his five-step plan to lower the murder rate, his plans to reform the police department, and being mayor of a city in recovery.