37 shot, 7 killed in weekend Chicago crime spree

The Chicago Sun-Times recorded the shootings from noon Friday to late Sunday evening. Police acknowledge that the numbers are high but also point out that crime increases when the temperature rises, the paper reported.

Although overall crime is up slightly this year, the murder rate has actually declined in the Windy City. For the first three months of 2008, murders fell 1.1 percent and aggravated batteries decreased 0.8 percent from 2007, the Sun-Times reported.

The superintendent of the Chicago Police Department blamed the shootings on the proliferation of guns and gangs. "There are just too many weapons here," Superintendent Jody Weis told reporters at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. "Too many guns, too many gangs."