#GunCrisis Philadelphia homicides back on pace with last year

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 09:25 AM PDT Above: Neighbors look on as police remove a body form the scene after two women were shot to death  last weekend in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia. Photograph for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project  by Joseph Kaczmarek. After running behind last year’s homicide rate through much of this summer, the total number  of victims is back on pace with 2013, according to the latest daily update from the Philadelphia Police Department. One month ago, police data indicated that nine fewer homicides had been reported during 2014 than  by the same date last year, representing a decline from 143 to 134 total victims — or a six percent  improvement. But on Tuesday morning, the Crime Maps and Stats page at phillypolice.com counted 160 homicide victims in the city this year, identical to the year-to-date total for 2013. Above: After several fluctuations, Philadelphia’s 2014 homicide rate was close to last year’s pace  through the first 32 weeks of each year, according to data taken from Philadelphia Police Weekly Reports. After leaping nearly 30 percent ahead of last year’s rate through the first few months of 2014, this year’s  pace then fell behind and pulled nearly even again through the first 20 weeks of 2014, before the latest  fluctuations. During 2013, a total of 247 people were murdered in Philadelphia, down from 331 victims in reported  2012, representing an historic reduction of 25.4 percent, as we previously reported. More than 80 percent of last year’s homicide victims were killed with guns. Posted by Jim MacMillan.