2020 becomes the year with the most murders in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Police Department says this has been the most murderous year in the city so far.
After Tuesday's fatal shooting of a 36-year-old man in the east side of Colorado Springs, police have investigated a total of 39 murders this year. The year with the most homicides previously was 2018, with a total of 38 investigations.
The murder rate in American cities seems to have gone up overall this year, according to a report from the Council on Criminal Justice. Some experts say the rise likely due to a combination of factors including pandemic-related hardships, growing distrust in law enforcement, and even the increase in gun sales leading to more gun violence.
Early on this year, homicide detectives in Colorado Springs were seeing a high number of cases. There were 11 murder investigations underway by March 10. However, police said at the time that it's practically impossible to pinpoint a cause to attribute the increasing homicide rate.
More data is still needed to get a complete scope of this year's crime rate across the United States. But 2020 has shaped to be a year unlike any other for cities like Colorado Springs.
Most recently, CSPD said the city broke its previous record for the most traffic-related fatalities in a year. 50 people have died on the city's roads as of New Year's Eve.
