D.C.'s police chief released data Thursday on shootings and murders in the District.
Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Peter Newsham said the city is on pace to have the same number of murders in 2020 as in 2019. Last year there were 166, which marks a 10-year high.
Of that total, 58 of the victims were under the age of 24, 153 were black and 154 were men.
“We’re unnecessarily losing people to gun violence,” Newsham said.
So far this year, there have been 68 gunshot victims. Last year there was a total of 690.
As for the suspects of the crimes, 92% had prior arrests. The average number of arrests they had was 10. Half were gun-related and 59% were for violent crimes.
“We want to ensure that small group of repeat violent offenders are held accountable. I think we’ll be able to impact that homicide number we’re seeing,” Newsham said.
