RECENT COMMENTS

Richmond’s 2nd least deadly year since 1964

Thirty-seven people have been murdered in Richmond in 2011, Richmond’s 2nd least deadly year since 1961. There were only 13 homicides in the East End, an improvement on the 14 recorded in 2010 and a total bested in recent decades only by the 11 in 2008/9 in 2009 (and a far cry from the 27 as recent as 2004 and 41 in 1993).

Of the 13 killings in the East End in 2011, 8 were located in public housing complexes or high-density low-income apartments adjacent to public housing. In June, three homeless individuals killed another homeless man in a vacant building on Oliver Hill Way. In August, a man was killed during an apparent robbery at the Chimbo Market. December saw a mysterious shooting that ended on 25th Street and the frightening Christmas Eve double shooting and kidnapping.

There were no killings in the Fulton/Montrose areas this year.

Arrests have been made in 9 of the 13 killings in the East End, a 69% clearance rate:

East End Homicides in 2011

Suprisingly for a year that ended with a remarkably low body count, every month in 2011 saw at least one homicide in the city. Richmond has seen in recent years months without a killing: no one was killed in RVA in November 2009, or in February or June 2010. These remain the only such quiet months in at least the last 31 years.

Between 1982 to 2006, Richmond saw at least 63 killings (and often many more). The number started rising in the mid-1980s and jumped to 100 in 1988. The yearly toll stayed over 100 for 10 straight years, hitting 161 in 1994 and 140 in 1997. The count dipped back into the 70s, jumped towards 100 in 2004, and has fallen dramatically the past 5 years. The historic low of 32 was achieved in 2008, with 2009 close behind with 39.

On the way to a devastating body count of 161, 1994 saw 2 months with over 20 killings, and only one month in the single digits. The violence peaked in August 1994 when 25 killings left someone dead almost every day of that month. There were more people killed in July and August of 1994 than in all of 2011. There were an equal number of murders that April alone to the total of the first 8 months of 2011. There were more murders that year than in 2007, 2008, 2009, and the 1st half of 2010 combined. It was rough, to say the least.

Here is the homicide count and population data by year for Richmond 1934-2011: Murder in Richmond 1934-2011 (PDF).

This is an updated version of a piece first published in July 2010.