The murder rate in the city of St. Louis was lower after six months than it was as of June 30 of last year—but the first week of July’s deadly violence now has the murder rate tracking ahead of last year’s pace.
During the first half of 2016, 87 murders were recorded, compared to 92 in 2015—a dip of 5.4 percent, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
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Last year, St. Louis had 188 murders, the highest total in 20 years; that was an average of slightly more than 16 per month and an 18 percent increase over the previous year.
There have now been at least 94 murders in the city.
On Friday, July 1, a man was found shot to death near the Merchant Bridge on the city’s near north side. The following day, a 65-year-old woman was killed on Enright Avenue. On July 4, two men were gunned down in broad daylight outside a store on West Page, and another man was critically wounded. Later that evening, a man was shot and killed in the Peabody Darst-Webbe neighborhood. On Tuesday, a St. Louis County man reportedly took a car and gun belonging to his girlfriend and later killed his mother and stepfather before taking his own life.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that St. Louis County had 31 murders so far this year, compared to 27 after six months of 2015. There were just 35 murders in all of 2014.
TIME magazine reported in May that murders are up in roughly 30 cities nationwide so far in 2016, according to data released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
“Chiefs all over the country are seeing the same thing,” St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s the availability of firearms in the hands of individuals and their willingness to use it indiscriminately.”
According to police statistics, aggravated assault with guns is down almost 10 percent, and the total number is down just more than 1 percent as assaults with knives and other weapons are up. There have been 140 cases of rape or attempted rape reported during the year’s first half, compared to 127 last year—an increase of 10.2 percent. Burglary is down 17.6 percent, and auto theft is down more than 18 percent.
