United States | Violence in America

In 2020 America experienced a terrible surge in murder. Why?

A modern murder mystery

|WASHINGTON, DC

IN MANY RESPECTS, the murder of Alante Hands last year on a Chicago street was sadly unremarkable. He was young, just 27, and black, like four in every five homicide victims in the city. Like nine in ten murders in Chicago, his life was taken by a gun—bullets pierced his arm, chest and leg. He had a lengthy criminal record, beginning a decade ago when he was arrested while still a minor for shooting at a police officer. He died in the violent West Side of the city on West Rice Street, where six others have been murdered in the past two decades. But for the fact that his murder occurred on December 31st 2020, the 787th and final one of an especially bloody year for the city, it might have been forgotten.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “A modern murder mystery”

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