Following the disturbing trend in heavily urban areas like St. Louis, Detroit, and Chicago, the murder rate in Nashville has spiked an alarming 63 percent over 2016.
WKRN’s Joseph Pleasant reports, “In a span of 36 hours, there have been four homicides in Davidson County.”
He continues:
Early Thursday morning, a man was shot to death in West Nashville.
Another man was stabbed on Murfreesboro Pike in South Nashville.
Later Thursday afternoon, Ahmad Osborne was shot and killed on Glastonbury Road in South Nashville.
Overnight in Hermitage, Suzanne Daughtery died and police believe her husband killed her.
And:
These deaths bring the total number of homicides so far in 2017 to 57. Last year at this time, there were 35. Year to year, homicides are up 63 percent.
East Nashville has also seen a dramatic rise in homicides. 13 people have been killed in the East Precinct, compared to three this time last year.
The rapid rise in homicides has been an ongoing concern of law enforcement professionals in recent years. The New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog reported in January spikes in murder rates in cities across the country, noting, “Murder almost certainly increased substantially in the U.S. in 2016, one year after it rose at its fastest pace in a quarter century.”
Although final numbers will not be published until the FBI releases the Uniform Crime Report in September, research gathered from local police and media reports by The Times cites the cities of Memphis, TN; San Antonio, TX; and Louiville, KY are among those with the highest rise in murder rates.
