Five major cities are on track to surpass their 2021 homicide totals

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Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Milwaukee are on track to surpass their already-soaring homicide rates from last year. 

Last year, the FBI warned that homicides in the US rose nearly 30 percent from 2020 and overall violent crime rose for the first time in four years. 

The stunning trend in homicides has continued this year. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the homicide rate leaped 24.7 percent from the year-to-date compared to the same period last year.  

Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia, have seen a 13.4 percent and 13.3 percent increase in homicides, respectively, Fox first reported. 

Meanwhile, law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland, has reported 7.7 percent more homicides this year. Los Angeles tailgates the Charm City with a 7.3 percent spike.  

The surge in homicides, which has not shown signs of slowing down anytime soon, has been attributed,  in part, to COVID-19 hardships.  

The rising violence has also been blamed on liberal cities’ lax bail policies and their support for the defund the police movement after protests over policing erupted nationally in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020. 

Last year, the FBI warned that homicides in the US rose nearly 30 percent from 2020 and overall violent crime rose for the first time in four years. The stunning trend in homicides has continued this year

Last year, the FBI warned that homicides in the US rose nearly 30 percent from 2020 and overall violent crime rose for the first time in four years. The stunning trend in homicides has continued this year

Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Milwaukee are on track to surpass their already-soaring homicide rates from last year

Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Milwaukee are on track to surpass their already-soaring homicide rates from last year

People are being killed in Los Angeles at a faster pace than in 2021, when homicides hit a 15-year high. 

So far this year, LA has seen 162 slayings – 11 more than the same time last year.

Assaults are also up nearly 5 percent from 2021, with police so far recording 8,779 incidents.

Last week, a now-dead gunman killed two Southern California police officers in a motel shootout.

Justin William Flores, 35, was on probation for a prior gun charge at the time he committed the killings.  The illegal handgun sentence was handed to Flores in 2021, as part of a lenient plea deal made possible by lax prosecution laws from DA George Gascon.  

Flores killed himself during the confrontation with the cops, which transpired after officers responded to a call of a stabbing at the Scenic Motel in El Monte, a small suburb within Los Angeles County. 

Last year, Flores – already on parole, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a felony charge that law enforcement sources said should have sent him back to prison for a minimum of three years.

However, because of Gascon – who was sworn into office in late 2020 as part of a wave of woke prosecutors who vowed to seek alternatives to incarceration – he received the bare minimum sentence of two years probation, and 20 days of jail time. 

The case has subsequently sparked outrage, with many criticizing Gascon.  

Last week,  now-dead gunman Justin William Flores, 35,  killed two Southern California police officers in a motel shootout in Los Angeles County

 Last week,  now-dead gunman Justin William Flores, 35,  killed two Southern California police officers in a motel shootout in Los Angeles County 

Corporal Michael Paredes

Officer Joseph Santana

El Monte Police Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana died in the shootout

So far this year, LA has seen 162 slayings - 11 more than the same time last year

So far this year, LA has seen 162 slayings – 11 more than the same time last year

In Washington, 93 homicides have been reported by law enforcement this year – 11 more than in 2021. 

With homicide and violent crime rates spiraling, Mayor Muriel Bowser finds herself in a reelection fight, fending off two challengers from the District of Columbia Council who accuse her of mishandling public safety issues and criticize her push to hire more police officers.

Against the backdrop of mass shootings around the country, the mayoral campaign reflects a wider dynamic playing out in longtime Democratic strongholds, with progressives facing off against party traditionalists over crime.

‘Call it sky blue vs. Tar Heel blue,’ said Michael Fauntroy, an associate professor of policy and government at George Mason University. ‘People have an anxiousness around crime. There’s no question about that.’

Crime and public safety have dominated the campaign. Homicides have risen for four years straight, and the 2021 homicide count of 227 was the highest since 2003. In January, a candidate for the D.C. Council, Nate Fleming, was carjacked at gunpoint.

Baltimore saw 337 homicides last year, up from 334 in 2020, and well above the 290 that the city’s Mayor Brandon Scott had hoped his new ‘violence reduction’ strategies would bring the homicide rate down to in 2021. 

This year, the Charm City has seen 153 homicides, compared to 142 during the year-to-date period last year.  

Meanwhile, non-fatal shootings increased from 721 in 2020, to 726 in 2021.

The violent streak of shootings has kept increasing steadily since 2015. Democrat-led cities with mayors who have pushed to defund police – and later asked to ‘refund’ police departments – now account for America’s most violent cities. 

In Washington, 93 homicides have been reported by law enforcement this year - 11 more than in 2021. Above, police direct pedestrians after 4 people were shot at the end of the Moechella concert at 14th and U Streets in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2022

In Washington, 93 homicides have been reported by law enforcement this year – 11 more than in 2021. Above, police direct pedestrians after 4 people were shot at the end of the Moechella concert at 14th and U Streets in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2022

In Milwaukee, authorities have blamed the shootings on criminals having 'easy access' to guns. The Cream City has seen 96 homicides this year - 19 more than the same time this year. This photo taken from video provided by WISN 12 News shows police responding to the scene of a shooting at Water Street and Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee on May 13, 2022

In Milwaukee, authorities have blamed the shootings on criminals having ‘easy access’ to guns. The Cream City has seen 96 homicides this year – 19 more than the same time this year. This photo taken from video provided by WISN 12 News shows police responding to the scene of a shooting at Water Street and Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee on May 13, 2022

In Milwaukee, authorities have blamed the shootings on criminals having ‘easy access’ to guns.

The Cream City has seen 96 homicides this year – 19 more than the same time this year. 

‘There is open carrying of firearms with utter disregard’ for law-abiding citizens, assistant police chief Nicole Waldner said in May, adding that ‘There is a lack of consciousness that is just really hard to fix right now.

‘It goes beyond law enforcement,’ she said.

Over the past year, homicide rates in the city leaped 48 percent, according to statistics from the Milwaukee Police Department.

Homicides in Atlanta are also on track to beat last year’s 30-year high of 158 homicides after a soft-on-crime mayor and pandemic lockdowns sent crime in the city spiraling.   

According to Atlanta Police Department’s latest statistic, released on June 11, homicides are up 13 percent for 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. In total, there were 68 homicides so far in 2022 compared to 60 last year.  

The Atlanta Police Department has said ‘irresponsible gun ownership’ has led to many of the shootings this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after more than 2,000 firearms were stolen from vehicles in Atlanta last year. 



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