Chicago Crime 2020: 18 Murders Reported Within 24 Hours, Largest Single-Day Data Shows

Chicago, Illinois, recorded its deadliest day in 60 years with 18 murders in a span of 24 hours, according to a new data released by the University of Chicago Crime Lab.

Sunday, May 31, marked the single most violent day for the city with 18 killings but the weekend from Friday, May 29, through Sunday, May 31, logged a total of 25 murders, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The murders took place amid the protest rallies following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. The crime lab also recorded 85 people were wounded or injured in gunfire in the same period.

"We’ve never seen anything like it at all," the crime lab's senior research director Max Kapustin said. "I don’t even know how to put it into context. It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before."

The latest record tops Chicago's previous highest single-day murder numbers from Aug. 4, 1991, when 13 homicides took place. The crime lab's numbers only go as far as 1961.

A spokesperson from the Chicago Police Department acknowledged there has been an “unprecedented” level of crimes in the past week as detectives have been cracking down on the motives of these killings.

"The department is actively working to seek justice for all the residents impacted, especially those who have been killed or injured by these senseless acts of violence,” Thomas Ahern of the police department said.

Of the 18 dead, two were barely starting their life. Keishanay Bolden, 18, who was taking up law at the Western Illinois University and dreamed of becoming a correction officer, was shot in her neighborhood in Englewood. Lazarra Daniels was also an 18-year-old murder victim who was a student at Lawndale's DRW College Prep.

Another victim, Angelo Bronson, 36, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Bronson was just visiting family members in Chicago that weekend but he was based in Washington with his two children, per Fox News.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot also revealed Chicago's 911 emergency center was inundated with 65,000 calls on May 31, when the average daily call is just about 15,000.

“We will rebuild,” Lightfoot vowed as the city reopens its economy after the lockdowns. “We are not going to leave our neighborhoods behind. That will not happen on my watch.”

At the height of the coronavirus stay-at-home orders, Chicago's crime numbers involving gun violence fell to 20%.