COLUMBUS, Ohio — After last year's slight drop in the homicide rate, a release from Columbus police shows that the numbers for this year are on the rise.
“Tragic, obviously we do not want this to happen in our community. I'm going to tell you we are going to work hard with the city attorney's office and we are going to make sure the bad actors who are operating in our city are shut down,” said Emmanuel Remy, Columbus city councilmember and public safety chair.
As of Monday, there were 110 homicides in the city of Columbus this year compared to 100 at this time last year.
“If you take a look at our statistics in Columbus related to homicides, the statistics are staggering, the number of people under 21 that are either suspects or victims of homicides are in the 20-40% range. That's really high,” said Columbus Police Assistant Chief Greg Bodker.
Bodker explains the division tracks homicides carefully and said they are noticing some trends. Of the homicides this year, 19 have been domestic violence related. Columbus police are tracking other trends and finding ways to prevent more violence.
“Earlier in the year, we identified what we thought was a trend in after-hours clubs and bars. I don't have the exact number. This year we have had a number of homicides in alcohol establishments,” he said.
Bodker said there were a number of calls for service to Double D's Pub, which is nearby where two women were killed and another person was injured Wednesday night. The city attorney's office said that pub had not been on their radar for a nuisance abatement, but are now looking into it.
“We look for trends whether it be bars or after-hours clubs, what are some contributing factors. I think in the end, one of the major factors of violent crime is hope. If people have hope that they can improve where they are at, what they are doing, they may not be in those situations,” Bodker explained.
While the homicide rate is up, so is the solve rate. Columbus police said it has solved about 72% of the homicides that have happened this year.