Chicago police: Number of homicides drop in Jan.

CHICAGO (AP) - The number of Chicago homicides in January was half the number the city experienced in the same month last year.

Police say there were 20 homicides during the month, compared to 40 in January of 2013 and 37 in January of 2012.

Police may have been helped by the fact that this past January was one of the coldest months in recent years with a total of 11 days of subzero temperatures.

But Chicago Police spokesman Adam Collins tells the Chicago Sun-Times ( https://bit.ly/1gBCKDw ) that Superintendent Garry McCarthy says weather is only one factor.

Eighteen of the 20 victims were shot to death and 19 of them were males. The youngest was a 15-year-old boy and the oldest a 44-year-old man.