The Chicago homicide rate has reached 500 deaths in 2012 after a fatal shooting on Thursday. The last time the city had this many homicides was back in ’08. Last year there was a record of 435 homicides throughout the city. On Thursday, a 40-year-old man was shot Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side. Read more below.

Julie A.

40 year old, Nathaniel Jackson, who was shot on Thursday was pronounced dead on Friday morning. Jackson was found on the sidewalk outside of a convenience store with a gunshot to the head. So far no arrests have been made in the case. Something needs to be done to bring down the death rate in the city. I know what happened in Newtown, CT is tragic, but loosing 500 people a year in one should also be a focus of gun control and laws.