New Orleans murders still falling after 2024 mass shooting | Crime/Police

New Orleans’ crime rates continue to show a significant drop in homicides in 2024 compared to previous years, even after a deadly mass shooting erupted in the city Sunday afternoon.

Police have investigated 111 murders so far this year, including the two people killed in the two shootings in St. Roch area on Sunday, according to New Orleans Police Department statistics. According to the police, at least 11 other people were injured in Sunday’s attack.

Police recorded 180 murders at this time in 2023. That’s a drop of about 38% over the course of a year.

New Orleans regained its title as the nation’s murder capital in 2022 as gun violence plagued the city. By this time in 2022, 233 people had been murdered in New Orleans. By the end of the year, the toll would increase to 265.

The drop in homicides in New Orleans comes as cities across the U.S. see a steep drop in violent crime in 2024, according to crime data analyst Jeff Asher. Homicide rates fell by at least 16 to 17% in at least 300 US cities through September.

In September, New Orleans had the fewest fatal and nonfatal shootings on record since 2010, thanks to an 18-day homicide-free streak, Asher said.

The reasons for the drop in murders over the past three years remain uncertain.

“This is not just a statistic, but New Orleans has made great strides in reducing deaths and crime in this city, and we will continue to do so,” NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Monday at a news conference about Sunday’s shootings.

There have been two mass shootings in New Orleans so far in 2024. In April, gunfire erupted near the Republic NOLA nightclub in the Warehouse District, leaving 11 people injured and one dead.