This week, Washington, D.C., hit its 200th homicide for the year.
According to the Daily Wire, it’s the first time since 2003 that the city has reached that many homicides.
In the most recent and 200th case, a man was fatally shot at a gas station in Southeast Washington just after 10:15 p.m. He has not been publicly identified. This comes just as Baltimore, Maryland surpassed 300 homicides this year.
Washington, D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said reaching 200 homicides this year was “very troubling” and that “lives that matter in our city were unnecessarily taken away too soon.”
A recent news report on the murders said there are also nearly 200 fewer D.C. police officers this year than last year.
Homicides rose in 29 major U.S. cities through September compared with the same period last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice, a Washington-based institute.
According to the Pew Research Center, in July, a survey found that 61 percent of U.S. adults said violent crime is a “very big problem” in the United States. In June 2020, that number was 41 percent.
“Between 2019 and 2020, homicide rates jumped by about 30 percent, which experts say is one of the largest recorded increases in American history,” The Daily Wire reported.
The new numbers come as many cities decided to cut down police forces because of recent protests against the law enforcement officers but then reversed course.
Cities like Austin, Texas, first cut or reallocated money from the police budget but then restored that funding and approved the funding for at least two cadet classes.
In Oakland, California, the city council voted to add another police academy. The Dallas, Texas mayor also called on the city to add more officers. Further, New York City increased its police department budget by $200 million.
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Photo courtesy: Maria Oswalt/Unsplash
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.