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Homicide Rates Decrease Locally, But Some Communities Struggling With Violence

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Unlike other parts of the country, homicides in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County actually decreased in 2016.

Community leaders attribute it to a stronger economy and better police-community relations. However, some local communities are struggling more with gun violence than others.

The massacre shocked the region last March, gunmen opened fire on a backyard party on Franklin Avenue and when it was over five people and an unborn child were dead. The community rallied and came together.

"We're at war with the images that our kids are seeing, we're at war with the stuff that's getting pumped into their minds at these young ages," said one Wilkinsburg resident.

But, in Wilkinsburg, the violence did not end there. Before year's end, six more people would die in homicides, bringing the total to 12. Mostly attributable to drug dealing.

"They want to live that lifestyle and they see that drugs is the fast money, so they tend to go to the fast money and end up in a bad scenario, which is very sad to me," said Maurice Michel, a resident of Wilkinsburg.

Pittsburgh's North Side also became a hotbed of shootings and retaliations.

Seventeen people died in homicides, mostly by gun violence and mostly over drugs. Disputes over turf seemed to escalate as homicide detectives rushed from crime scene to crime scene.

"Typically, this stuff is folks competing for markets, typically in drugs. And it's folks involved in the trade, unfortunately," Mark Fatla, of North Side Community Conference, said.

Yet, despite some hot spots, homicides countywide actually decreased in 2016 -- from 114 in 2015 to 105 this past year. Of that, 56 were in the city of Pittsburgh and 49 victims were killed in suburban Allegheny County.

The city's homicide rate held steady over the past two years, but that is in sharp contrast to other urban areas across the country which have seen a dramatic uptick in gun violence and homicides.

Most notable is Chicago where 762 people were murdered, but smaller cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee have also seen big increases in their homicide rates.

Pittsburgh Public Safety officials are hopeful that initiatives like community policing -- officers walking a beat -- will improve relations and end up being a deterrent to crime.

They're also hopeful that economic development will offer youth alternatives to drug dealing; and in Wilkinsburg, the business district is making strides but street crime still hampers those efforts.

"People getting held up, robbed, people getting their property damaged, stolen, things like that," said Eric Lockwich, of Wilkinsburg.

While the homicide rate has held steady throughout Allegheny County, urban towns like Wilkinsburg continue to struggle with violent crime and the answers seem hard to come by.

Meanwhile, Fatla says the shootings have been isolated to some sections and that the overall crime rate on the North Side is on the decrease. It's something he credits to good relations with the officers and command staff at the Zone 1 police precinct.

"As long as we have a dialogue, we think we're going to be able to make… continue to make headway," he said.

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