Illinois 4th in Drive-By Shootings, 2nd in Deaths and Injuries

Chicago - Illinois ranks fourth among the 50 states in a study of reported drive-by shootings in the second half of 2008, and it ranks second in the number of people killed or wounded in those shootings

The "Drive-By America" study, released on Wednesday, was conducted by the Violence Policy Center, a national educational organization working to stop gun deaths and injuries.

The study tallied news stories from July through December 2008 to identify data and trends associated with drive-by shootings, including the number of incidents by state, the number of victims killed and injured, as well as time of day and location. The study did not analyze police statistics.

Findings include:

-- During the six-month period, 733 drive-by shooting incidents were reported, killing 154 and injuring 631.

-- California led the nation in the number of drive-by shootings with 148 shootings, killing 40 and injuring 129.

-- In second place was Texas, with 60 shootings, six deaths 52 injuries; while Florida was third with 48 shootings, killing 10 and injuring 42.

-- Illinois was tied for fourth place with Washington in the number of drive-bys, with 38, but the number of people killed (18) or wounded (53) were second only to California.

-- Nearly one out of five (18 percent) of those killed or injured were under the age of 18.

-- Forty percent of all drive-bys occurred between the hours of 7 p.m. and midnight. A third were between midnight and 7 a.m.

-- Drive-by shootings peaked in the month of August and then declined as the weather turned colder.

VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann said, “Drive-by shooting victims are frequently children or other innocent victims caught in gunfire apparently intended for someone else.

"Our analysis represents the absolute floor as far as the number of drive-bys that occur each day. The actual number of incidents and victims is most likely far higher,” he said.

The report said “additional research on the national level collecting and analyzing data on drive-by shootings is necessary to identify effective prevention strategies.”

(Note: The report is available at http://www.vpc.org/studies/driveby2010.pdf)