A Grim Pace: Nashville's 2017 Homicides Surpass 2016 Already

NASHVILLE, TN — With more than two-and-a-half months remaining in the year, there have been more deaths by homicide in Nashville in 2017 than in all of 2016.

Through Monday, 91 people have died in homicides in Davidson County, including homicides ruled as reckless, negligent, justified or accidental; there were 90 such deaths in all of 2016. That puts Nashville on a pace for 118 homicide deaths by year's end.

(For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Of the 90 in 2016, 84 were ruled criminal homicides. The record for criminal homicides in a single year was 112 in 1997.

After 20 people 19 and under died in homicides in 2015, Mayor Megan Barry launched a youth crime initiative. Youth deaths by homicide dropped to 15 in 2016, including two infants who died as a result of child abuse. So far in 2017, 18 young people have been killed, with 15 ruled to be murders.

Image via Shutterstock