Shooting Victims in Philadelphia Pass 1,000 for 2017, But There Are Glimmers of Hope

As of midnight Oct. 25, 1,006 people were shot in Philadelphia in 2017.

The grim milestone for city violence includes the 253 people murdered since the beginning of the year, with a majority killed by gun.

A spokesman for the Philadelphia police department, in releasing the shooting tally to NBC10, noted that shooting incidents overall — including those in which no one was struck by a bullet — passed into quadruple digits "way earlier in the year."

There have been 1,221 founded shootings through Oct. 25.

Both numbers are down slightly compared to the same date in 2016. If the lower totals hold through the end of the year, it would be a welcome sign in a city where aggravated assaults have climbed the last two years.

Aggravated assaults, as reported by Philadelphia police to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, were up more than 300 in 2016 compared to 2014. The category includes gun assaults. Here's the last full three years:

2014: 7,500