From Homicide Watch D.C.’s database, the year in homicide, visualized:
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- Homicides have fallen steadily since peaking in the early 90s. This is the first year with fewer than 100 homicides since the 1960s.
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- Shootings remain the most common cause of death, with 57 killings, down from 77 last year. Twenty people died in stabbings, six of blunt force trauma, one of strangulation and one of hypothermia.
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- Twenty-eight people were found dead at the scene of a murder; 60 died at the hospital.
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- The most commonly listed reason for a homicide–12 cases–was an argument, according to data provided by MPD. Other circumstances include robberies (eight cases) and altercations (seven cases, including domestic).
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- Eighty-one were male, eight were female (including one who was transgender and identified as a woman).
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- Seventy-four victims were black, two were white, two were Asian and two were Hispanic (the remaining are unknown).
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- The most common age for victims was 21 years old, and almost two-thirds were in their 20s (33 victims) or 30s (23 victims) when they died.
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- More than 80 percent of this year’s homicides–74 out of 89–happened east of Capitol Street; 37 were in Northeast, 37 in Southeast. There were 13 homicides in Northwest D.C., and two in Southwest.
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- Nineteen suspects were in their 20s at time of arrest, nine were teenagers, eight were in their 30s.
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- All but three suspects were men.
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- At least 29 suspects were black; two were white. Race is unknown for 15 suspects.
