Fayetteville police tasked with mitigating problem of record homicides in 2023
Fayetteville broke its record in 2023 for the number of homicides in a year. There were 48 homicides in 2021.
Posted — UpdatedBut that wasn't the case in Fayetteville. The city broke the record in 2023 for the homicides in a year with 49.
One of those victims was Lorenzo McLaughlin Jr. He died when shots rang out at Seabrook Park.
"My son was full of life," said father Lorenzo McLaughlin. "He just liked to be the life of the party. He was just fun to be around. Parents liked him, little brothers, big brothers, he was just a fun person."
"He was running and it started over here at Family Dollar and then he ended up getting shot in the back right over here and he fell in the front of the barber shop door," said Jalana Daniel, James' sister.
Braden said during the past three decades the city's population and size has more than doubled. He said in addition, the city had an unprecedented year where several juveniles were killed.
"We have the 5-month-old, Brooklyn, just recently in December and going all the way back to where these three infants have died due to gun violence," Braden said. "Those are situations that their parents sort of placed them in. They were with their parents at the time that they were killed."
Braden said there were actually 51 deaths in Fayetteville in 2023. He's waiting on the medical examiner to determine if two of them are officially homicides.
While some parts of our area saw more murders in 2023, that's not the trend nationwide. Last year, more than 8,900 people were killed in the U.S. That's down from more than 10,000 the year before, which is a 13 percent drop.
Still, there was a sharp increase in the last several years, meaning that, despite this year's decrease, our numbers are elevated compared to 2019.
Related Topics
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.