We Guess it's 003

If one of the only reliable crime reporting sites says it's 003, it must be 003:

• The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that a man found shot inside a South Shore apartment on Saturday morning was a homicide victim, marking the first murder of the new year in Chicago.

  CPD said someone discovered 51-year-old Marcos Aleida face down in a bed inside an apartment in the 6700 block of South Jeffery Avenue around 9:22 a.m. Saturday. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and back and was pronounced dead at the scene. No other details were released.

And as many had speculated, 03 January was longer than usual for the Grim Reaper to make his initial appearance:

• Since 2001, Chicago has started a new year with a longer murder-free period only twice: in 2014, when the first victim died at 4:08 p.m. on January 3, and in 2019, when the first killing occurred at 2:37 p.m.

  Since 2001, Chicago has recorded its first murder of the year on January 1 a total of 17 times. The first murder occurred on January 2 five times. And 2026 is the fourth year in which the city’s first homicide was recorded on January 3.

We remember one year, probably the late late 90s, it took almost five days to tally a homicide.

We also recall a year when someplace like 016 or 017 won the pool, also around that same time.