The Fourth of July was hardly a time of celebration for Chicago residents this year: More than 60 people were shot in Chicago over the holiday weekend, leaving 11 dead as of Monday morning. Despite the Chicago Police Department's efforts to increase officer presence in more violent neighborhoods, this past holiday weekend will likely be remembered for the bloodshed. Although police spokesman Martin Maloney told the Chicago Sun Times that Chicago has seen its lowest homicide rate this year since 1963, it couldn't have felt further from the truth for residents this weekend.

The first shot was fired early Friday morning when two men, 34 and 35, were gunned down in a drive-by, which kicked off a string of unrelated incidents that had Chicago inhabitants feeling like they were living in a war zone.

"We're celebrating independence, but we feel like we're in prison," Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church, who has been outspoken about the city's gun violence, told ABC7. "It's unacceptable. We wouldn't accept it in Iraq, we shouldn't accept it in Chicago."

Back in 2012, when Chicago's murder rate surpassed 500 annually — making it the murder capital of the country — officials launched a campaign to reduce the violence. Hundreds of police officers have been dispatched to the city's more dangerous neighborhoods while authorities collaborate with community leaders to curb gang activity. Although these efforts brought the murder rate down to 415 in 2013, Chicago still saw more violence than other major cities like New York City, which recorded 350 homicides the same year.

Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Whether or not these numbers indicate a decrease in violence for Chicago, residents felt anything but peaceful this past weekend. Some of the incidents that occurred in the last three days alone...