City’s homicides up over this time last year
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said various property and violent crimes have decreased across the board year-to-date, but there have been three more homicides this year compared to the same period in 2014.
“It’s nice to talk about our downward trends in violent crime, but the reality is we are still well above the national average when it comes to violent crimes,” Holbrook said Tuesday in a report to Columbia City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “We have to address (community and police) relationships, but we also have to address violent crimes, gun possession and the availability of the guns.”
Columbia police have investigated four homicides so far this year, he said, each of which he characterized as domestic disputes that turned violent as opposed to being gang-related confrontations. He attributes the violence to an immature, youthful population that doesn’t think about what might happen if they fire a gun.
“That bullet that goes downrange, it doesn’t identify race, sex or age. It doesn’t discriminate,” Holbrook said. “When you put that in the hands of an immature youth, they aren’t thinking about the outcome of what they do.”
One of those homicides involved the shooting-death of 17-year-old C.A. Johnson High School student Eric Washington March 15. The most recent involved a shooting following an argument at The Colony apartment complex that claimed the life of an innocent bystander April 21.
Holbrook said with the amount of “shots fired” calls the department receives, he knows its No. 1 mission is tackling violent crime. “I think there is a divine intervention over our community that we haven’t had more tragedies,” Holbrook said.
Reach Cahill at (803) 771-8305.
Columbia’s 2015 crime statistics
So far this year, there has been a decrease in both violent and property crimes throughout Columbia compared to the same time period last year, according to Columbia Police Department statistics. Here is a look at this year compared to last:
Violent crime
Homicide
▪ 2014 total: 9
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 1
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 4
Sexual assault
▪ 2014 total: 75
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 20
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 24
Robbery
▪ 2014 total: 322
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 101
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 74
Aggravated assault
▪ 2014 total: 481
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 181
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 131
Property crime
Burglary
▪ 2014 total: 1,114
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 333
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 292
Motor vehicle theft
▪ 2014 total: 683
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 162
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 186
Autobreaking
▪ 2014 total: 1,672
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 478
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 427
Larceny
▪ 2014 total: 3,833
▪ 2014 year-to-date: 1,115
▪ 2015 year-to-date: 1073
SOURCE: The Columbia Police Department
This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 7:09 PM with the headline "City’s homicides up over this time last year."