Mayor Lightfoot fires back after Trump blames Supt. Johnson for Chicago's 'crime wave' in tweet, CPD release shows shootings down in October

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police released crime numbers for the month of October showing a drop in murders and shootings. The release comes as President Donald Trump once again comments on Chicago crime and Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

CPD said there were 233 shooting victims across the city last month, down from 252 last year. There were 38 murders in October, compared to 49 in 2018.

"While we will never allow ourselves to become complacent in combating violence throughout our city, we're encouraged to see our vision for a safer Chicago materialize," Superintendent Johnson said.

Through the end of October, there have been 1,831 shootings, 2,242 shooting victims and 424 murders in Chicago in 2019, police said. There were 2,041 shootings, 2,462 shooting victims and 478 murders over the same time period in 2018.

Friday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted about crime in Chicago, saying, "Chicago will never stop its crime wave with the current Superintendent of Police."

Earlier this week, President Trump criticized Chicago Superintendent Eddie Johnson during his speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.

"People like Johnson put criminals and illegal aliens before the citizens of Chicago and those are his values and frankly those values, to me, are a disgrace," Trump said during his speech.

Supt. Johnson had boycotted his speech citing "personal values" for his reason.

"I have to take into account, not just my personal feelings about it, but our core values as a city," Johnson said. "We are nothing without trust and with some of our communities under siege, it just doesn't line up with our city's core values along with my personal values."

"There is one person that is not here today, we are in Chicago. I said, where is he, I want to talk to him. In fact, more than anyone else, this person should be here. He could learn something," Trump said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot responded to Trump's tweet by posting one of her own Friday, defending Supt. Johnson.

Superintendent Johnson spoke at a news conference Friday about these new numbers and other crime fighting efforts in the city.