The nation’s capital recorded more homicides in 2023 than any year since 1997, marking the fifth-highest murder rate among the nation’s biggest cities, according to a report.
The Washington Post reported Monday that 274 people were confirmed victims in 2023, with 19 of them children and young teenagers.
The rate of homicides was 40 per 100,000 residents. In 1997, 302 people were killed.
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D.C. came in only behind New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Memphis, but ahead of New York and Chicago, according to the report.
Every ward in D.C. experienced homicides with most enduring “significant overall increases in violent crime,” according to the report.
There was an arrest by late November in only 75 cases.
In those cases, nearly half was due to an “argument.” At least 12 cases were domestic disputes, eight were robberies and five were neighborhood conflicts.
U.S. Capitol police officers stand guard outside of the Russell Senate office building after a report of an active shooter on August 02, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
More than 90 percent of the killings through December 27 were by gunfire, the report said. The number of juveniles killed by gunfire doubled in 2023 from the year before — 16 from eight. More juveniles also pulled triggers in 2023 than in the past, the report said.
In the first nine months of 2023, police made 458 arrests of juveniles for robbery, homicide, or assault with a dangerous weapon — a 10 percent increase from the same period the year before.
“It’s been a tough year,” Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser told the Post in an interview.
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