Philly Surpasses 400 Homicides This Year

Two fatal shootings Saturday night brought Philadelphia’s total number of homicides this year to beyond 400, a milestone reached only twice in the last two decades.

Last year, the city recorded 499 homicides, and in 2006 the total reached 406. Philadelphia has not had back-to-back years with that grisly tally since 1996.

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Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner echoed that sentiment in a statement Sunday {snip}

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So far, the Saturday night homicide that pushed the city past 400 has not led to arrests, and no weapons have been recovered, according to the police report. {snip}

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Only 29% of homicides and 15% of nonfatal shootings have resulted in arrests by police so far in 2021, according to an analysis by Krasner’s office.

If both fatal and nonfatal shootings are included, 1,696 people had been shot through Wednesday, according to police statistics. That is the second-highest total in any year since 2007, the year police began recording “shooting victims” as a separate statistic from the broader category of “aggravated assault with a gun.”

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Krasner stressed the importance of investing “vigorously and continuously in children.”

“That means safe, structured learning environments for all kids, in buildings free of neurotoxins and where regular access to nutritious meals is a given,” he said.

Krasner also said the criminal justice system must change. It must take advantage of forensic technologies to solve shootings that are not captured on camera or witnessed by bystanders; and shore up training and staffing for homicide and shooting investigations to increase arrests.

That, he said, would foster “accountability within the criminal justice system, and greater accountability to the public, so that there is more trust … in the police and criminal justice system.”

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That suffering continued unabated into the early hours of Sunday morning. A 31-year-old woman was shot in the chest about 5 a.m. near the intersection of North Hancock and West Lippincott Streets in the Fairhill section. She was pronounced dead when she arrived at Temple University’s Episcopal Hospital.

There were also five nonfatal shootings overnight.

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