Brian Scott and Bryant Morillo were D.C.’s first murder victims of 2011. Scott was 21; Morillo, 16.
This year has been especially dangerous for people in that age group in D.C. While there were about as many homicide victims in the first four months of 2011 as the same period last year, a much larger proportion have been 21 years old and younger.
According to Homicide Watch D.C.’s data, between January and April of 2011, 12 people 21 and under were killed in 12 separate incidents. In the first four months of 2010, nine youths were killed in six separate incidents.
An interactive timeline, posted below, shows an uptick in homicide victims 21 and younger. In 2010, youths 21 and under made up 16 percent of all homicide victims. So far this year, they make up 36 percent.
Census data, like police data, only records youth populations as juveniles under the age of 18 so it’s not known if 36 percent of all homicide victims being aged 21 and under is disproportional to the demographic’s population in D.C.
What is clear is that crime against young people has become more deadly.
MPD Spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said she could not comment on the number of youth homicide victims, because MPD’s records of youth homicides include only juveniles under the age of 18. The number of juveniles killed this year has so far been even with 2010; there were three murders of juveniles in the first four months of both years.
“We are always troubled, when young people are killed,” Crump said in an emailed statement.
