Baltimore Breaks City Record for Killings Per Capita in 2019

Baltimore broke its annual per capita homicide record after reaching 342 killings Friday.

With just over 600,000 residents, the city hit a historically high homicide rate of about 57 per 100,000 people after recent relentless gunfire saw eight people shot — three fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day.

The new rate eclipses that of 1993, when the city had a record 353 killings but was much more populous before years of population exodus.

By contrast, New York City, with more than 8 million residents, had 306 homicides through Dec. 15.

The total is up from 309 in 2018 and matches the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city’s homicide rate suddenly spiked.

A statement from Baltimore police said officers were dispatched late Thursday night to a location on Pratt Street, where they found a man with gunshot wounds. A police spokesman said the man died from his wounds at a local hospital early Friday.

More