Christmas Eve Killings Bring St. Louis Homicide Toll to at Least 257

Four people were fatally shot in St. Louis on Thursday, bringing the city’s homicide toll for the year within reach of an all-time record.

As of Friday, at least 257 people have been killed in St. Louis, 10 short of the record 267 set in 1993, according to police.

Because of the city’s population decline, its homicide rate is believed to now exceed 85 per 100,000 people. It was 69 per 100,000 in 1993 when the city’s population was nearly 30% larger than it is now.

Compounding the violence Thursday was the fatal double shooting of two men in University City.

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A double shooting at 2:30 p.m. in The Ville neighborhood left two men dead in a vehicle in the 4500 block of Aldine Avenue, near Martin Luther King Drive, police said. {snip}

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