CHICAGO (AP) — The medical examiner’s office in the county that includes Chicago says that the number of homicides so far this year has already surpassed the total for all of 2019 and is on a pace to exceed 900 for just the fourth time in more than a quarter century.

In a news release, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office says that 95 percent of the 677 homicide victims this year were people of color and that the vast majority of the homicides – 565 – occurred in Chicago.

The medical examiner’s office also says all but 92 of the victims were shot to death.