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Community leaders looking into reasons behind Milwaukee's record homicide numbers

Posted at 10:25 PM, Nov 12, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-12 23:25:17-05

MILWAUKEE — 170 homicides this year - the record-breaking number that we currently sit at in the City of Milwaukee. For context, the number is up from 83 as of Nov. 12 in 2019.

“When you put other things [COVID-19] into the mix of it, that community suffers harder,” Avd-Al-Jabbar said. “You have to deal with the economic stress in these communities.”

He believes a lack of resources can be a significant factor in changes of behaviors that may ultimately lead to violence.

“That’s where the hopelessness comes from. There’s a lack of opportunity. A lack of upward mobility in these communities so they feel trapped in these communities and they do what they have to do to make a dollar,” he explained.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office broke down age groups for homicide victims this year:

That number adds up to a total 170 homicides. 88 of those have been solved, or cleared.

That number is just shy of 174 homicides through Nov. 12 in 2018 (91) and 2019 (83) combined.

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