Raleigh homicides spiked nearly 50% in 2022, year-end police data show
As Raleigh continues to grow, the city’s “criminal element” is growing along with it, Police Chief Estella Patterson said Wednesday.
Homicides in Raleigh rose by nearly 50% in 2022, making it one of the city’s deadliest years on record, according to data requested by The News & Observer.
There were 49 reported homicides last year, compared to 33 in 2021, a 48.5% increase. That includes October’s mass shooting in the Hedingham neighborhood when five people were killed.
Of those, 41 were fatal shootings, a nearly 58% increase from the 26 reported in 2021.
And that was more than double the 19 people shot and killed in Raleigh in pre-pandemic 2019.
Patterson said growth partly explains the spike in violence.
“I think it goes back to what we’re seeing,” she said. “We’re a growing city. Our population is growing. I think it’s naive to think you’re not going to have a criminal element that is part of that growth.”
Patterson spoke Wednesday about the city’s crime statistics in the last quarter of the year at a news conference at the Raleigh Police Department Southwest District on Hutton Street.
She addressed what the Raleigh Police Department is doing to fight violent crime, including plans to “increase community engagement and collaboration.” Patterson said she hopes to reduce homicides by further leaning on community resources and bolstering her office’s relationship with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Another major challenge is juvenile crime, Patterson said. In the final quarter of 2022, 11% of aggravated assaults were committed by juveniles with access to guns.
“When we see 14- and 15-year-olds committing crimes, we have to have groups of people who can really connect with them and be able to turn that around,” she said.
Patterson hopes to make juvenile gun safety a priority and said she plans to participate in a statewide “safe store” project that will provide education, training and gun locks for legal gun owners to safely store their weapons.
“We are seeing a greater need for this every day,” she said.
How much gun violence is in Raleigh?
Year-end crime data for 2022 obtained by The N&O shows there were:
▪ 36 fatal shooting incidents with 41 victims.
▪ 43 homicide incidents, including non-gun related killings, with 49 victims.
▪ 92 non-fatal shootings.
Durham, with about 60% as many people as Raleigh, reported the same number of fatal shootings last year, its police data shows.
However, Durham reported 206 non-fatal shootings out of a total of 247 persons shot. Those shootings have decreased in the city since 2020, when 285 non-fatal shootings were reported.
Hedingham shooting is a factor
The Oct. 13 mass shooting in the Hedingham neighborhood played a major factor in the city’s increase in crime last year.
Seven people were shot — five of them fatally — by the 15-year-old suspect. The police chief declined to comment on how suspect Austin Thompson accessed the firearms — a handgun and a shotgun — that he used in the rampage.
Officers returned fire during a standoff when Thompson shot at law enforcement officers who were attempting to locate him.
Patterson said the investigation into the shooting is “nearly complete” and that her department regularly meets with the District Attorney’s Office about their progress.
She confirmed that Raleigh Police officers Sgt. K.M Smithey and Officer D.M. Garner have resumed working with the department after being placed on administrative paid leave for shooting at the suspect the night of the incident.
More young people shot in Raleigh
Data tracked by The N&O shows fatal shootings and overall gun-related crimes in Raleigh have risen steadily since 2019.
Among last year’s numbers, there were 18 juveniles (ages 13 to 17) fatally shot in 2022, compared to eight the year before.
Two of the city’s fatal shootings were by police. Officers shot and killed two men last year, one in January and another in May.
Police have made arrests in three-quarters of the homicides, according to police spokesman Lt. Jason Borneo.
Patterson was asked about the possibility of adopting ShotSpotter surveillance technology as Durham has recently done. But she said she is more focused on finding ways to prevent gun violence from happening. ShotSpotter was launched last month in Durham to detect gunfire so police can get to the scenes of shootings more quickly.
Part of Raleigh’s efforts include a Community Violence Interrupter program, with the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, that received over $2 million from the Raleigh City Council last year.
The pilot program, praised by the police chief as a proactive measure, will go “boots on the ground” this year with individuals doing community-based work with victims of gun violence and at-risk youth, she said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Raleigh homicides spiked nearly 50% in 2022, year-end police data show."
