Buffalo ends 2012 with higher murder rate
The number of people murdered in the City of Buffalo is on the rise. There were 15 more homicides in 2012 than the year before, and YNN's Natalia Martinez tells us most of those murdered were killed by gunfire.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The number of people murdered in Buffalo have gone up according to the city's police records.
In 2011, 34 people were killed. In 2012, that number went up to 49.
"Terrible, terrible," Benny Law told YNN. He's lived in Buffalo for 42 years.
"It make me don't want to raise my kids here," Buffalo resident Desmond Lowe said.
All but seven of the 49 people killed in 2012 were shot to death. Melissa Brown of the Stop the Violence Coalition says those stats points to a serious problem.
"We want to reduce the guns that are on the streets and work along with the Mayor of the City of Buffalo," Brown said.
More than half of all of the murders happened along the streets of Buffalo's east side. That's where TayTay Small lives. She told us she hears police sirens all day and all night.
Most of the cases of 2012 are still being investigated. According to public record, 10 of them have been cleared. Of 34 people who were killed in 2011, 15 of their cases have been solved.
But for those living here, it's not enough.
"It's getting out of hand, it's got to stop," Lowe said.
But the Stop the Violence Coalition says it is working on youth programs and promises to live up to its name.