NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The number of homicides in New Orleans has fallen for the third consecutive year, police say, and a newspaper reports it has reached a 49-year low.
There were 119 homicides in 2019, down from 146 the previous year, New Orleans police confirmed in a statement. It was the lowest number documented since 161 slayings were recorded in 1971, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported. Since 2017, the number of documented homicides in New Orleans has fallen each year, two local observers who study crime told the newspaper.
With the new low, New Orleans could drop from the spot its held for nearly three decades on the list of America’s five deadliest cities, crime analyst Jeff Asher told the newspaper. Those federal figures are released in September.
Though homicides dipped, the number of non-fatal shootings was set to increase by 3%, the newspaper reported, citing numbers documented in mid-December.
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