Columbus Logs 144th Homicide of 2020, Most Ever in a Single Year

Columbus has set a new record for number of yearly homicides. Friday marked the city’s 144th homicide so far in 2020.

That breaks the city’s previous record from 2017, with a month and a half left in the year.

The city’s homicides started off slowly, with lower than average rates at the beginning of the year thanks to Ohio’s stay-at-home order during the pandemic. But high gun violence in the summer and fall contributed to the record-breaking number.

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City officials say that a lack of youth programming mid-pandemic led to high rates of gun violence among young people.

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