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Homicides in 2022 surpassed last year's total

police tape
TONY WEBSTER
/
FLICKR

In 2022, there have been 106 homicides in Charlotte as of Tuesday, an 8% increase from 2021.When the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released its third-quarter crime statistics in October, they noted overall crime was up 4.5%. But that was driven mostly by property crime — overall violent crimes were down 5%.

There was one notable exception: Homicides, which were up more than any other category of crime. And that trend has continued, in a reversal of the trend in 2021.

According to CMPD’s 2021 end-of-year crime report, homicides fell last year by 18%. There were 98 total.

Of the 106 homicides in Charlotte this year, the average age of victims is around 31 years old. Across all CMPD Patrol Divisions, the highest number of homicides have been reported in:

  • University City (14) 
  • Westover (13)
  • Metro (13) 
  • North Tyron (13) 
  • Steele Creek (11) 

This map shows the block where each homicide occurred in 2022.

CMPD has tried to alleviate gun violence through efforts like its Crime Suppression team, which has seized over 2,500 firearms during criminal investigations

Despite that, CMPD data shows 86% of homicides in Charlotte were committed with a firearm.

More grieving families means more need for services to help those affected by violent crimes. One place those families can look to is the organization Mothers of Murdered Offspring. The support group has been part of the Charlotte community since 1993, when it was founded as an effort to aid families dealing with the loss of a loved one to violent crime.

MOMO Executive Director Lisa Crawford hopes the community can learn to be more peaceful — and that next year’s homicide numbers won’t continue to rise.

“I hope we find a different way to deal with our conflicts,” said Crawford. “Elements of these situations have to deal with some type of conflict, some type of inability to cope with emotions.”

The support group will offer a new program called “MOMO Men” this coming year. The group will focus strictly on men to help aid men who are experiencing grief, as well as to communicate when a loved one is lost to violence.

For more information, you can head to momocares.org or call 980-777-6860.

Kenny is a Maryland native who began his career in media as a sportswriter at Tuskegee University, covering SIAC sports working for the athletic department and as a sports correspondent for the Tuskegee Campus Digest. Following his time at Tuskegee, he was accepted to the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program as a Marketing Intern for The NASCAR Foundation in Daytona Beach, Florida in 2017.