After recording one of its lowest homicide totals last year (35), Denver is still ‘off track’ towards its goal of reducing gun-related homicides by 10% and shootings in ‘high-risk’ neighborhoods by 20%, Mayor Mike Johnston said last week.
Gun homicides are flat from last year, Johnston said, but shootings in ‘high risk’ neighborhoods have gone down, if not as much as hoped.“Last year was a tough act to follow, as the city recorded the second-lowest homicide rate since 1990,” a Johnston spokesperson told The Denver Gazette. “That first week of April [was] the biggest difference from last year to this year, but thankfully, things have slowed down since — thanks in no small part to the police department’s work to de-escalate. Still, it’s hard to extrapolate too much from a single week, good or bad, which is why we lean on more detailed data points.”