President Donald Trump's threats to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago sent shockwaves through America's third largest city as many residents defended their home against Trump's escalating rhetoric toward its violent crime, including claims it is a “killing field.”

The threat of federal troops stirred a mix of fear, frustration and defiance for residents as they pointed to historic drops in violent crime.

“I've been living here for 57 years and I feel very safe in Chicago. I think it's a very safe community,” said Art Jarrett, a business owner just south of downtown.

Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data.

Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%.

“The empirical data is very clear that the Chicago trend is extremely positive,” said John Roman, who directs the Center on Public Safety and Justice at the University of Chicago. ”...Chicago is doing better than the rest of the country on a lot of really important measures.”

Jarrett pointed to Trump's business presence in the city, saying "He can’t think it’s that big a killing field; he wouldn’t have built a building here.”

Sydney Aldrich, 26, expressed that deploying federal troops isn’t the answer and hoped to challenge the harsh narrative of violence that so often defines her city in the news. “We have a lot of community members around town that are supportive of one another, and we watch out for each other," she said.

AP video shot by Obed Lamy