Jackson Closes Out 2020 with the Most Homicides in City History
C.J. LeMaster, WLBT, January 1, 2021
spike in killings over the last six months made 2020 the deadliest year ever for the Capital City with 128 homicides, according to a 3 On Your Side analysis of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Murder Accountability Project and the Jackson Police Department.
Those 128 killings represent the highest number by far in the city’s recorded history, which eclipses 1995′s previous all-time record of 92, according to FBI data.
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Most other major cities in the U.S. with populations several times larger than Jackson have far smaller homicide rates, by comparison, though.
A 3 On Your Side analysis shows Jackson ranks second among 20 major U.S. cities, higher than Baltimore, Memphis and New Orleans.
The homicide rate here is almost three times higher than Chicago.
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In 2020, individual reports from JPD show 280 people were shot or killed over the course of the year, a 12 percent increase over the year before.
That means on average, someone was shot or killed in Jackson last year every 31 hours.
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{snip} Jackson’s homicide rate has continued to rise and once again stands as highest in the city’s history — 79.69 per 100,000 people — edging out previous all-time records set in 2018 and 2019.
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At the same time, Jacksonians don’t have the full picture of how deadly 2020 actually was.
Jackson police sent information on 127 individual homicides to 3 On Your Side over the course of last year.
The killing of Cortez Shelby at Mbar in July wasn’t counted in JPD’s numbers because the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department worked that case, a spokesperson said.
WLBT counts Shelby’s killing as a Jackson homicide because it took place in the city.
Right now, JPD is reporting 129 homicides as of New Year’s Eve night, meaning there are two that they never sent to reporters, and by extension, never told the public about.
