Who do we remember as we enter 2011? Which cases will stay with you?
One hundred and thirty one people died on D.C. streets this year, nearly three quarters of them in gun violence. Of the victims whose identities were released, 14 13 victims were under the age of 18 at the time of their deaths, 25 24 were under the age of 20.
We remember some more easily than others. The deaths of Ebony Franklin and Angel Morse, both in Northwest D.C., captured our attention. Raj Patel, killed in a robbery attempt on his grocery in Brookland; Larry Hutchins, shot to death at work at D.C.’s Department of Public Works; Neil Godleski, a Catholic University student killed while bicycling home in Petworth; the violence of their deaths seemed to feel like more tragedy than many could stand.
But there were so many other deaths, too.
Homicide Watch D.C. has compiled a database of D.C.’s homicides this year using Metro Police Department and FBI press releases as well as press reports. The second page of the database pulls homicide data from OCTO, D.C.’s office of technology. We’ve spent the better part of a week reconciling the two different spreadsheets. As you’ll see, OCTO reports 131 homicides— the same number used by Metro Police in their most recent homicide count. In a search of public documents, however, we found 113 homicides and we have not been able to determine the status of the 18 homicides reported by OCTO that have not been reported by Metro Police or the press. More on this in another post soon.
Homicide Watch D.C. is going to parse these numbers over the next few days, and bring you updates on some of the cases. We hope you might do the same.
Consider this your open invitation to collaborate. Have we missed a case? Is there a name or an age you can contribute? What about a photo for our gallery? Leave a link, leave a memory, leave an update on a case.
To add or make changes to the spreadsheet or to add a photo, email Laura Amico at homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com. Comments are open, with the usual guidelines, for everything else. To view the spreadsheet as a full page, go to its public page on Google Docs.
For tips on how to use the spreadsheets, including how to sort columns and what the different highlighted fields mean, view this post.
