Every time I think Chester has turned a corner, it makes me eat my words.

Don’t look now, but the city is in the midst of another rash of violence that would make the denizens of the Wild, Wild West blush.

Chester has seen no less than five homicides in the past week. It started last week when gunfire rang out just a few feet away from where an anti-violence charity basketball tournament was taking place. The irony was only the beginning.

Over the weekend two people were found shot execution style in an alleyway at Sixth and Lincoln streets.

The weekend was not over. A man was shot early Monday morning at Seventh and Lloyd. He had been shot in the legs. While they were there a call came in for a car crash. The driver of that vehicle had struck several parked cars before coming to a stop. It was later determined he had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.

Last night the spate of violence continued. Police believe one person was shot and killed, another injured on West Fifth Street.

With a population of 37,000, Chester has already rung up 15 homicides this year. One-third of those have been recorded in the last week. This morning’s shooting could push the bar to 16 homicides.

Violence in the city had been down, until the last deadly week shattered the calm. Last year by mid-August 17 people had been slain on city streets.

The city will never truly reverse its fortunes and fully embrace the economic turnaround evident in many areas until its streets stop resembling those of Dodge City, where disagreements are too often decided with a gun.