Killings in Los Angeles on Pace to Top Last Year's High

Through April 30, there had been 122 homicides in Los Angeles, six more than were recorded during the same period in 2021, reported the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest newspapers in the country.

According to an annual crime statistics release by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in January, last year recorded 397 homicides, up by 42 from 2020 and second only to 480 killings in 2006.

The bloodshed remains far below that of the early 1990s, when the city had more than 1,000 homicides per year. But it nonetheless marks another uptick, however slight, in the troubling surge of gun violence that erupted in 2020 and has become a top concern among residents as well as a key issue in the race for the city's next mayor, said the Los Angeles Times.

While the rest of the year could see a significant decrease in the rate of killings, the numbers so far likely scuttle any hope that the city would find a way to return to pre-pandemic levels of gun violence, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We certainly see instances of street violence that we tie into gangs, with a lot of ready and easy access to handguns and rifles," Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said, adding that "it's resulting in this loss of life and this high frequency of shootings."