LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles will likely have more than 300 homicides this year, Police Chief Michel Moore told the city Police Commission.
The nation’s second-largest city hasn’t exceeded that mark since 312 were killed in 2009.
Moore told the Police Department’s board of civilian overseers Tuesday that as of Saturday there had been 266 homicides, a nearly 25% jump over the same period last year, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The total number of homicides for all of 2019 was 253 and in 2018 there were 260 killings.
The police chief described the current situation as an erosion of progress in reducing gun violence. In the 1980s and ’90s annual homicides sometimes exceeded 1,000.
The south and central areas of Los Angeles have been especially hard hit. Homicides are up 50% in the LAPD’s South Bureau, which covers South Los Angeles.
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