The city of Chicago has just gone through six days without a homicide for the first time in four years, data has shown.

A 22-year-old man named Antoine Watkins was found lying face down on the street on Saturday around noon. Officials on Sunday found that he had died of multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide.

Six days prior, 23-year-old James Morris was fatally shot while sitting in the driver's seat of a parked minivan, according to authorities. His death occurred on Sunday, February 26 around 11 am.

The six days between the two deaths marked the longest period of time without a homicide in the city since at least December 3 to December 9, 2012, according to data compiled and analyzed by the Chicago Tribune.

The city of Chicago has just gone through six days without a homicide for the first time in four years, data has shown (file picture)

Not a day has gone by without a shooting in Chicago since February 28, 2015, the newspaper reported.

There have been fewer homicides so far this year than for the same period in 2016, but more shootings have been compiled.

Last year, 109 homicides occurred by March 5. This year's number comes to 103. There were however 19 more shootings over the same period this year, according to the Chicago Tribune's data, which reports 539 occurrences by March 5 this year versus 520 last year.

It wasn't immediately clear how Watkins' fatal shooting unfolded Saturday on the West Side of the city, in the Austin neighborhood.

The 22-year-old, who lived a block away, was found dead at the scene, police told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Morris died six days earlier after someone drove by his parked minivan slowly and opened fire, officials told the newspaper.

Chicago's six-day homicide-free stretch also marks the first time since January 2013 that the city has gone at least four days without a fatal shooting. The last instance occurred between December 18 and December 22, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

A police spokesman couldn't pin down one specific reason for the absence of homicides in the recent six days, but credited the community and said officers had seen promising results in the city's 7th and 11th districts, where it has sent many officers and used technology to predict where gunshots are likely to happen.