ST. LOUIS — We are less than two weeks into July, but 16 people have already been killed in homicides in the month.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that 16 people have been killed in incidents in the first nine days of the month.
From July 3 to July 5, more than 20 people were shot and seven of those victims died from their wounds. Three more people were shot and killed during a seven-hour span Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
St. Louis was already ahead of last year's homicide rate ending July. At the end of June 2019, there were 92 homicides, according to police statistics. This year, the number was 101.
In addition to the 16 homicides that took place this month, a shooting victim from an incident that occurred earlier this year died from injures sustained in the shooting, bringing the total so far this year to 118.
On Monday, local leaders said the launch of the 'Cure Violence' program — which they hope will help curb violent crime by training community members to intervene before violence occurs — is running behind due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It was delayed because of COVID, you know we were in the process back in February and March of awarding the contract to the entity and that entity is employment connections who has the first contract to implement cure violence," Mayor Lyda Krewson said Monday.
The Cure Violence program is designed to train people who come from areas of high crime rates to intervene in conflicts.
It's something Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed said the city needs now more than ever especially since so many people were shot this weekend.
"My worry is that people are going to think that this is the new normal and become numb to it because that's just the way it is," Reed said Monday.
