Gun violence tends to worsen with the summer heat, but Philadelphia is experiencing its most peaceful season in nearly a decade, reports The Trace. Through August 11, 440 fewer people had been shot compared to the same time last year, marking a 39.2 percent decline, says the City Controller’s Office. Homicides are plummeting. There have been 167 slayings in 2024, a 37 percent decline from the 265 recorded at the same time last year. The last time killings were that low by the second week of August was in 2015. Gun deaths are down nationally with the exception of people under the age of 18. In Philadelphia, youth are included in the reprieve. Through August 11, there were 30 fewer shootings of teens and children compared to the same time last year, down from 120 to 90.
The sharp drop in shootings is a continuation of last year’s decline, which saw 410 homicides, a 20 percent dip from 514 in 2022. In the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, Philadelphia recorded 563 homicides in 2021, a record high. The downward trend is little comfort for those whose loved ones were slain in recent years, and whose killers are still unaccounted for, said Stanley Crawford, a founder of the Families of Unsolved Murders Project. There have been 2,045 unsolved murders and 425 solved murders dating back to 2014. r“We should not rest on our laurels and pat ourselves on the back when we have so much murder and mayhem still occuring,” said Crawford, whose son was fatally shot in 2018 by a man who has been arrested and charged with four different murders. “Unsolved murders perpetuate more murders. Unsolved shootings perpetuate more shootings.”
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