St. Louis, Missouri, has matched its all-time record homicide rate weeks after matching its total homicide number for all of 2019, the Associated Press reported.
William Edwards, 36, was killed Sunday night at a bar, the St. Louis Dispatch reported. His death puts the city at 207 killings in 2020, a 25-year high with roughly 2.5 months still left in the year, according to the AP.
Cahokia man gunned down inside bar in north St. Louis; city ties record for homicide rate https://t.co/XhCB89ZeRg
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) October 5, 2020
Police have not revealed a motive in the killing, in which a 28-year-old woman is reportedly suspected.
St. Louis recorded 248 homicides in 1994, according to the AP, and the highest number of killings was 267 in 1993. The city’s population that year, however, was about 387,000 and the homicide rate was 69 per 100,000 residents. The population has dropped by 86,000 people since 1993, meaning 207 killings in a 301,000 population is a rate of 69 per 100,000 residents, the AP reported.
St. Louis matched its total homicide number for 2019 when a 15-year old girl was shot to death in September. The girl was the 194th homicide victim in 2020.
St. Louis is among several U.S. cities that have experienced a crime surge in 2020, and has had one of the nation’s highest per-capita homicide rates for several years. (RELATED: Minneapolis Residents Sue City Council And Mayor For Failing To Staff Police Amid Crime Surge)
Between January to July, crimes including homicide, rape, robbery and assault were up 90% in downtown St. Louis, compared with the same period in 2019, according to St. Louis Today. Violent crime in all neighborhoods citywide through July was up 4%, while property crimes downtown and citywide were down slightly through the end of July compared with the same period in 2019.
Robberies and aggravated assaults sharply increased in June and July, and both numbers were higher than any other June or July on record, going back to 2005.
Numerous other cities have also experienced an increase in crime, including Chicago and New York City.