2017: Chicago Homicides Outnumber U.S. Military Casualties 18 to 1

By Michael W. Chapman | January 2, 2018 | 12:13 PM EST 

A homicide victim in Chicago. 

(Screenshot, YouTube) 

(CNSNews.com) -- There were 664 homicides in Chicago in 2017 and, for comparison, 37 casualties in the U.S. military in its myriad operations around the globe. That's according to data from the Chicago Tribune and from the Department of Defense's press office.

The Chicago deaths are for the period Jan. 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, 2017; the military deaths are from Jan. 1, 2017 through Dec. 22, 2017, which is the latest update on casualties by the DoD posted so far. (There may have been a few more military casualties in December.)

From the data available, it shows that Chicago suffered 17.9 times more homicides than the U.S. military worldwide -- combat and non-combat related deaths -- last year. 

For Chicago, 664 homicides -- murders by shooting or other means (not including suicides) -- averages to 1.8 homicides every day of the year. 

For the U.S. military, some of the deaths were combat related and some were non-combat related. For instance, the first death, on Jan. 7, 2017, was a non-combat related incident. Spc. Isiah L. Booker, of Cibolo, Texas, who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, died in the incident, which is under investigation. 

On Jan. 29, 2017, Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill., died in "the Arabian Peninsula of Yemen, of wounds sustained in a raid against al-Qaida," said the DoD.

On April 8, 2017, Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37, of Edgewood, Md., was killed in the Nangarghar Province of Afghanistan when "his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations," reported the DoD. 

U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan since October 2001, more than 16 years ago.  U.S. troops have been in Iraq since March 2003, more than 14 years ago. 

The Chicago homicides are monitored and documented by the Chicago Tribunestaff 24 hours a day, according to their website, "Crime in Chicagoland."