Baltimore murders soared in 2017, with 342 reported homicides taking place this year – a new record per capita record, The Baltimore Sun reported. That works out to nearly one murder every day.
This means that the homicide rate for this year averages at around 55.8 killings per 100,000 people and, according to WTOP, marks an eight percent increase over last year’s 318 murders.
The previous record was set in 2015, when the city suffered 344 homicides; however, at the time there were thousands more residents in the city.
“No one is proud of this violence,” said Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith earlier in the year, per WTOP.
“It shouldn’t be tolerated. We should be doing what we can to make sure there is not another person who is associated with that number.”
Amid these soaring statistics Mayor Catherine Pugh announced plans to hold a candlelight vigil on Thursday evening while police commissioner Kevin Davis vowed to implement new crime fighting initiatives.
The rising crime rate in Baltimore has gained widespread attention over the months.
Forbes magazine listed Baltimore as one of the top 10 most dangerous U.S. cities.
In November a group of residents held a “Ceasefire” in an attempt to highlight the violent crime wave. According to The Guardian, the participants joined hands, sang, prayed and marched through the streets while putting forth a simple plea: “Nobody kill anybody.”
Two homicides taking place on Tuesday night further drove home the point that Baltimore is in the grip of a serious crime epidemic.
In the first incident, an 18-year-old died in the Langston Hughes neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore after sustaining gunshot wounds to his body, The Baltimore Sun said.
That same night police were called to a scene in the Waverly neighborhood of North Baltimore where they found a man with multiple gunshot wounds inside a crashed vehicle. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
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