Joliet ended last year with the fewest homicides since 2019.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the city had only two homicides, an 83% decrease from the previous year, during which a tragic mass shooting claimed eight lives.

One of the two homicides in 2025 included the June 2 fatal shooting of 13-year-old Manuel Mejia Perez.

A 15-year-old teen was arrested on a charge of Perez’s murder in a case that remains ongoing.

The other homicide was the Aug. 16 fatal shooting of Shelby Hurd, 36, of Chicago, who was on parole from prison.

After Hurd burglarized a residence, he was shot by a woman who was home with her infant child, according to a statement from the Joliet Police Department.

The case remains open and it is unknown whether there will be charges, said Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English.

Chicago is another city in Illinois that experienced a drop in homicides.

The city ended the year with the fewest homicides in 60 years, according to a CBS News analysis of preliminary crime data from the Chicago Police Department.

Nationwide, the year was expected to conclude with about a 20% decrease in homicides, according to an ABC News interview of Jeff Asher, a national crime analyst.

Asher based his analysis on a sampling of preliminary crime statistics from 550 police agencies, according to ABC News.

On Asher’s Substack, he cautioned his assessment on the historic drop in murders and other crime won’t be confirmed until the FBI releases formal estimates in the second half of this year.

The following is the homicide count in Joliet since 2019:

• 2025: 2

• 2024: 12

• 2023: 11

• 2022: 9

• 2021: 5

• 2020: 15

• 2019: 19