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From 2016 through 2018, at least 775 people were killed in Maricopa County. Here’s what you need to know.
Wochit
An analysis of Maricopa County homicide data reveals who is being murdered and where.
The body of 73-year-old Reginald Locke was found bound in his apartment above an auto shop near 24th and Roosevelt streets in Phoenix in June 2016.
Two men were gunned down at a light-rail station at 24th and Jefferson streets — about a mile from Locke’s apartment — five months later. Police said a grainy surveillance video showed a man in a gray hoodie on a bike shoot 46-year-old Raymond Woolfolk and 37-year-old Cory Harrell.
Michael Cisneros, 27, was shot and killed by police at Sky Harbor Inn apartments at Van Buren and 24th streets in 2017. Police said he was shot after he ignored commands to drop the gun he was carrying. The weapon turned out to be a replica of a semi-automatic pistol.
Two weeks later, Anthony T. Freeman, 47, was shot and killed a block away at the Airport Inn, near 25th and Van Buren streets.
Jessuh Williams, 37, and four others were shot inside a room at a motel near 25th and Van Buren streets in 2018 after an argument broke out. Williams later died.
These are just a few of the homicides that plagued the deadliest square mile in Maricopa County. In many of the cases, it’s not clear if the killer was ever arrested.
At least 10 murders occurred in this area north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport near 28th Street and Interstate 10 from 2016 to 2018, according to an analysis by The Arizona Republic of homicide data.
The Arizona State Prison Complex in Phoenix and the state hospital sit in the center of this hyper-violent square mile. Dozens of abandoned, fenced-off buildings and empty hotels with faded signs dot the surrounding streets. One hotel permanently closed its doors after six people were shot in an upstairs room earlier this year.
A few passersby told The Republic the sound of gunshots aren’t uncommon in the area.
Fewer people are being murdered
The homicide data paints a conflicting portrait. While the number of murders in Maricopa County and Phoenix have declined overall over the past three years, more people overall died from gunshot wounds.
At least 775 people were murdered in Maricopa County from 2016 through 2018, according to The Arizona Republic’s data, compiled from Maricopa County Medical Examiner records and reporter research
Homicides dropped by more than 10 percent during that time period:
- 275 people were murdered in 2016.
- There was a 6.5 percent drop to 256 murders in 2017.
- There was another 5 percent drop to 244 murders in 2018.
The drop is consistent with national homicide rates, according to Richard Rosenfeld, a criminology professor with the University of Missouri, St. Louis.
“Generally speaking, Phoenix is in line with what’s happening with most other big cities,” he said.
While overall murders have decreased in the county, the number of those people killed with a gun has risen, according to the data.
Who were the victims?
The victims between 2016 and 2018 were overwhelmingly Caucasian and male, with a median age of 31. However, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office classifies Hispanic and Latino subjects as Caucasian, making it impossible to use their data to accurately understand the racial or ethnic make-up of homicide victims.
At least 99 of the victims — nearly 13 percent — were shot and killed by a law enforcement officer.
The youngest homicide victim was 2-month-old Avery Robinson. Phoenix police said the infant, 8-year-old Jaikare Rahaman and 5-year-old Jeremiah Adams were stabbed to death and stuffed in a closet by their mother in 2016. Avery’s body was found inside a suitcase.
Their mother, Octavia Rogers, was hospitalized with self-inflicted wounds. She was indicted by a grand jury on three counts of premeditated first-degree murder and remains in jail on a $1 million bond awaiting trial.
The manners of the 775deaths varied from stabbings and strangulations to blunt force trauma and poisoning.
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But the majority of those murdered — 79 percent — died of gunshot wounds.
At least two serial/spree killers terrorized the Valley during the time period.
In 2017, Phoenix police arrested Aaron Saucedo in the “Serial Street Shooter” case. Sauceo is accused of killing nine people between 2015 and 2016 in the Maryvale area, with some shootings in central and east Phoenix.
Dwight Jones gunned down six people in a four-day murder spree during the summer of 2018. He killed himself in a Scottsdale hotel room as police closed in. Scottsdale police said the spree stemmed from Jones’ divorce and custody battle.
Deadliest areas of the Valley
Phoenix led the Valley with a total of 430 murders during the three-year period, meaning there were about 27 murders per 100,000 people.
At least 167 people were murdered in the capitol city in 2016, 137 in 2017 and 126 in 2018.
The largest cluster occurred in the area north of the airport between 28th Street and Interstate 10. Ten murders were reported within that square mile.
There were nine murders in a primarily low-income residential area north of Interstate 10 between 63rd and 67th avenues.
Eight murders were reported in each of the following areas of Phoenix:
- Interstate 17 and Indian School Road.
- Broadway Road from 24th to 28th streets in south Phoenix.
- Near 32nd Street and Thomas Road west of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Mesa ranked second with 61 murders during the three-year period — 12 murders per 100,000 people.
Both 2016 and 2017 remained relatively stagnant with 15 and 13 homicides, respectively. That was followed by a 69 percent increase to 22 murders in 2018.
Mesa also saw significantly more stabbings than most other cities. Seventeen of the city’s 63 murders — about 28 percent — were stabbings. In Phoenix, stabbings only account for 8 percent of all homicides during the same time period.
Two people were fatally stabbed and another two shot to death around the Hohokam Stadium near Center Street and Brown Road in Mesa.
Three people were murdered on streets northwest of the now-closed Fiesta Mall in southwest Mesa.
Glendale had 49 murders over the three-year period, totaling 24 murders per 100,000 residents. The city has seen a nearly 50 percent drop in homicides since 2016.
There were nine murders along Missouri Avenue between 63rd and 67th avenues — only a few miles west of the State Farm Stadium.
Decline of the ‘Ferguson Effect’?
The most recent numbers are far below the record highs of past decades.
Phoenix consistently tallied more than 200 homicides per year between 1994 and 2007, according to data reported by the department to the FBI. The most violent year was 2003 with 241 recorded homicides.
In contrast, Phoenix reported 139 murders in 2018.
In more recent trends, murders rose about 23 percent nationally from 2014 to 2016 before steadying in 2017. Maricopa County cities showed a similar trend during that period.
Rosenfeld said the sharp increase and subsequent decrease can partially be explained by a theory known as “The Ferguson Effect.” Numerous experts have said the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in 2014, coupled with intense media coverage and vocal activists led to deteriorating police relationships — especially with minorities, Rosenfeld said.
As a result, people were less likely to cooperate with investigations and even report crime. Some, Rosenfeld said, may have taken matters into their own hands if they felt going to law enforcement wasn’t an option.
Rosenfeld hasn’t studied the effects of this phenomenon in Phoenix specifically, but he said he’s seen it in large cities across the country.
“Now, as we move beyond that period, I think there has been a calming of those situations in Phoenix and elsewhere,” Rosenfeld said.
What’s missing?
The medical examiner determines which deaths in Maricopa County are labeled homicides. Homicide numbers provided by the medical examiner can differ from those used by police. Police, unlike medical examiners, usually don’t count killings that are deemed lawful in their totals, such as most police shootings or anything deemed self-defense.
These numbers also allow for only limited analysis into the role of race and ethnicity in homicides.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, which rules on the cause of death, designates five race categories for deceased individuals: Asian, Black, Caucasian, Eastern Indian and Native American.
Hispanic and Latino subjects are categorized as Caucasian, making it impossible to use their data to accurately understand the racial or ethnic make-up of homicide victims.
Among the races provided by the medical examiner, about 64 percent of the victims fell under the Caucasian category. U.S. Census Bureau data says Caucasians make up about 84 percent of the county’s total population.
Black people were disproportionately killed. While 6 percent of Maricopa County’s population is black, 21 percent of its murder victims were black.
How the data is tracked
The Republic has worked with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office to gather a database on homicide statistics from 2016 to 2018.
The information is then complemented with police records and reporting to provide a comprehensive look at murders in the Valley.
This year’s numbers per city may deviate from numbers in prior years. Previously, The Republic opted to measure the murder rate by examining the number of cases handled by each police agency.
They are now being calculated based on which city the victim was found in.
Have information to contribute to the homicide database? Reach public safety reporter Bree Burkitt at [email protected] or at 602-444-8515. Follow her on Twitter at @breeburkitt.
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