Baltimore has suffered its deadliest January in more than a decade, the Baltimore Sun reports. The city recorded 32 homicides in the first 31 days of 2017 — more than a killing per day, and the most in January since 2005, when there were also 32. The only year on record with more killings in January is 1973, when there were 35. The new toll extended the city’s historic spike in violence since April 2015, the month Freddie Gray died of injuries suffered in police custody, and the city erupted in riots.
Before the unrest, Baltimore had gone more than seven years without suffering 30 homicides in a month. In the 21 months since, it has happened 10 times. Thirty killings per month is now about average in Baltimore. The deadliest year per capita in city history was 2015, with 344 homicides — even though the surge didn’t begin until May. In 2016, the second-deadliest year with 318 homicides, there were 14 homicides in January — less than half the number this year. The violence this year has continued into February. There were six homicides in the first four days of the month.