Yesterday morning, a woman in died in Baltimore after being shot in the city's Franklin Square section, marking the city's 200th recorded homicide of 2013. As the Baltimore Sun reports, it's been two years since the city has registered less than 200 homicides, which hadn't been accomplished in 34 years.
There are other cities with more homicides (New York and Chicago, as the Huffington Post mentions), but Baltimore's population is much smaller, which makes its murder rate stand out. New York, which is on pace for its fewest recorded homicides in history, had 279 as of Oct. 31. However, New York has over 8 million residents, while Baltimore has less than 650,000.
Chicago, on the other hand, had recorded 354 homicides as of Nov. 1. The Sun-Times notes that this is the city's lowest murder total after 10 months since 1965. By comparison, Chicago has more than 2.7 million residents.
Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said he was disappointed with the city's murder rate this year, but pointed to a bright spot: "All other major crimes have gone down." Ervin Burrell would be proud.
[via The Huffington Post, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Sun-Times]
