Columbus' 73 Homicides Tops Ohio Cities

 

Columbus is the largest city in Ohio, but is it also the most dangerous?  City leaders are asking themselves that question one day after a five-year-old was shot in the face. Terrance Powell is recovering in Nationwide Children's Hospital, but this shooting shocked a city that has already seen 73 homicides, 20 more than this time last year.  That compares to 45 homicides in Cleveland, 37 in Cincinnati, 25 in Dayton, 17 in Toledo and 15 in Youngstown.

 

When looking at the actual homicide rates in these cities per 100,000 people, Columbus is at 9.48.  However, Cleveland is actually higher sitting at 10.43, and Cincinnati is the highest of the three at 11.11.

 

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/aug/20/columbus-73-homicides-tops-ohio-cities-ar-201401/

That's not shocking. It's common for Columbus to have 80 something murders per year. We have some dangerous suburbs included in the city.

Yea but this was for roughly half the year not the full year.

That's not shocking. It's common for Columbus to have 80 something murders per year. We have some dangerous suburbs included in the city.

 

I think it's uncommon for Columbus to have 80 something... last year was pretty low in comparison to most years.  From what I remember, Columbus typically has 100 or more a year.  This year is on about the same pace as normal...

 

Edit: I just looked and I guess Columbus varies from 75-120 from year to year. So not too uncommon

Yeah, it seems to fluctuate a lot from year to year. I guess you're right, avg might be around 100.

Cleveland's way down for this year.  I wonder why.

Much better than New Orleans.

Yeah, just as long as those inner city blacks keep killing each other and not us, everything is fine.  Give me a fucking break man, are you serious?

edale might not be aware of how dynamic and irrelevant race is in Columbus. You're safer in parts south of E. Livingston or Edgewood than you are in parts of Westerville.

Honestly, Hilltop (majority white) feels more dangerous than East Main (majority black). 

Cleveland's way down for this year.  I wonder why.

 

It's not so much "way down" this year as it was "way up" for a couple years in the recent past.  From the late 90s into the first part of the decade, Cleveland was typically in the 80-ish range for homicides.  Then there was a big crackdown on street gangs in '06 (?) that I think made our numbers spike for a few years afterward because of turf reorganization.  The other thing is that we haven't had many multiple homicides this year (last year, for example, there was the guy that killed 5 members of his family in a shooting spree, and Anthony Sowell's 11 victims count for 2009 since that's when they were discovered.)

 

EDIT:  This was put out by the PD last year-

http://media.cleveland.com/metro/photo/02cgcrimejpg-dc84f20a1a44c009.jpg

 

from

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/homicides_up_in_cleveland_in_2.html

 

C'mon man, I didn't say anything like that. I'm sorry if you read it a different way. I should clarify that I wasn't surprised at the # of homicides, contrary to how the original article posted was inferring. Of course any murder is a tragedy no matter who it happens to and deserves to have all the resources at the community's disposal to help in preventing future violence. I didn't intend to be demeaning.

 

Sorry I freaked out on you...I came to this thread after the AFC North trashtalking thread and I guess I was still a little worked up haha. I apologize.

Cleveland is on pace to be less then 70

edale might not be aware of how dynamic and irrelevant race is in Columbus. You're safer in parts south of E. Livingston or Edgewood than you are in parts of Westerville.

I can't figure out what "dynamic and irrelevant" means here. Equal opportunity homicide or something? Is it really true that black males aren't disproportionally the ones being killed? (Honest question.)

Don't do or deal drugs and you will be fine.

Don't do or deal drugs and you will be fine.

 

or be involved in gangs...

or walk around creepy half abandoned neighborhoods at 3 am.

Through June Cincinnati had 32 homicides, unchanged YTD over 2009. Violent Crime was down 12% over 2009

Don't do or deal drugs and you will be fine.

 

or be involved in gangs...

 

The little kid who got shot on Champion the other day during a drive-by shooting wasn't in a gang. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Don't do or deal drugs and you will be fine.

 

or be involved in gangs...

 

The little kid who got shot on Champion the other day during a drive-by shooting wasn't in a gang. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

There will always be exceptions but for the most part its true.

edale might not be aware of how dynamic and irrelevant race is in Columbus. You're safer in parts south of E. Livingston or Edgewood than you are in parts of Westerville.

I can't figure out what "dynamic and irrelevant" means here. Equal opportunity homicide or something? Is it really true that black males aren't disproportionally the ones being killed? (Honest question.)

 

I don't know if it's "equal opportunity homocide" but Columbus does have a lot of white thugs. Franklinton, Hilltop, even the southside-east of Parsons, south of German Village or up near Linden. Same holds true for the suburbs. At the same time, like I said, there's quite a lot of upper-middle class black neighborhoods where there's hardly any crime. I don't know who kills each other more, I'm just saying it's pretty irrelevant in this city. People would only be in a frenzy if a person was shot and killed in one of the nice areas of the city because...well, it's a nice area!

 

Crimes in nice areas tend to not get reported in the news as much unless it's something really shocking. They do a good job of keeping their crime under the radar. I worked at a restaurant in Hyde Park, Cincinnati and kept hearing from word-of-mouth about stores getting broken into at night but I would never hear about it in the news. It's very bad for the reputation of the neighborhood.

I don't think store break ins are going to make the news anywhere they happen, unless there is some shocking twist.  Murders, shootings, rapes, serious assaults, or crimes against the elderly.  Those make the news.  Doesn't really matter where they happen.

Really not that surprised. The dangerous neighborhoods continue to be dangerous. If someone gets popped in downtown, Short North, German Village, or Polaris...THAT would send the metro into a frenzy.

Someone got shot in downtown Cincy the other day. Suburbanites on the Enquirer comments are eating it up, of course.

 

Two people were chased and arrested near the scene. One article said a police officer witnessed the shooting, but since neither of those arrested were charged with the actual shooting, it seems like there is a question of who actually pulled the trigger. They're both charged with charges related to possessing and ditching the gun.

 

With the victim alive, and suspects in custody, the event was not nearly as tragic as it could have been.