Declines in homicides, overall crime in Charlotte this year give police cautious optimism
This story was updated Oct. 15 to show that 15-year-old Daliamontray Decarlo Strothers Jr. died of injuries from a shooting this week.
Almost a full year removed from one of Charlotte’s deadliest, the city looks to be trending in the right direction, police Chief Johnny Jennings said.
“Last year, at this time, we were at a point where we were very concerned with where our homicide rate (was),” Jennings said during Charlotte-Mecklenburg weekly news conference on Wednesday.
From January to September, overall crime in Charlotte-Mecklenburg fell 4% from the same period a year ago. Violent crime fell 3%, police said.
Charlotte ended 2020 with 121 homicides, one shy of 1993’s record of 122. The city’s population has more than doubled since 1993, the Observer previously reported.
For the third quarter, Charlotte saw an 18% decrease compared to a year ago, police said.
Still, Jennings said the department remains concerned with the current numbers, but believes the city will end the year on a positive note if the number of homicides continues to decrease.
Jennings said he couldn’t attribute the increase in violent crime a year ago to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he’s more receptive to the idea now as Charlotte begins to open up.
“As kids are back in school and people are back to work, I think creates less opportunities for some of these criminal activities that we’ve seen,” he said.
Youths and violent crimes
Two areas CMPD hopes to continue to address are violent crimes and homicides involving youths.
Of the city’s 74 homicides through Monday, 10 victims are age 17 and under, police said.
Tuesday night, 15-year-old Daliamontray Decarlo Strothers Jr. was shot while inside his west Charlotte home Tuesday night, a source close to the investigation told the Observer.
Around 11:58 p.m., police responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call in the 600 block of Fairwood Avenue. Officers arrived on the scene and found the teenager with a gunshot wound. He’s in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Strothers died of his injuries at Atrium Health Main on Thursday.
“We’re still seeing young people who are dying violently and we’re still seeing young people who are committing violent acts,” Jennings said. “Until we can get some sort of resolution, and make sure we’re not seeing our victims and our suspects continue to get younger and younger, that’ll continue to be a high initiative for CMPD.”
Guns and a pledge
▪ CMPD reported a 35% increase in the seizure of illegal guns, compared to a year ago. The department has seized 2,260 illegal guns this year, Jennings said.
“We do have an issue with guns being out in the street,” he said. “We do have an issue with people resorting to to guns to deal with violent criminal acts.”
▪ CMPD joined a nationwide initiative called the 30x30 Pledge, which aims to increase the representation of women in police recruit classes to 30% by the year 2030. There’s currently 15% female officers in CMPD, Jennings said.
“We want to make sure we value everyone in our department, and we want to be reflective of the community we serve,” he said.
CMPD crime statistics
Other statistics CMPD reported in its third-quarter public safety report:
▪ Violent crime: ↓ 3%
▪ Property crime: ↓4%
▪ Robberies: ↓22%
▪ Sexual assaults: ↑17%
▪ Aggravated assaults: ↑2%
▪ Commercial burglaries: ↓19%
▪ Vehicle thefts: ↑7%
▪ Larcenies: ↑8%
▪ Arson crimes: ↓27%
▪ Arrests: 10,465, ↓6%
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 6:03 PM.
