For the third year in a row,  Indianapolis has seen another year of record-breaking murders.

According to IMPD, as of December 30, there were 158 criminal homicides.  That number was 156 in 2017.

To put it another way, Indianapolis averaged a murder every 2.3 days.

Here is a final breakdown of the statistics for this year…

  •  82-percent of the victims had criminal histories and accounted for a combined 729 adult felony arrests
  • 75-percent of the suspects had criminal histories and accounted for a combined 230 adult felony arrests/
  • Seven of the victims and five of the suspects were under age 18.
  • Eighty-percent of the murders involved a black victim, even though blacks are less than 30 percent of the population.
  • 70 percent of the murders occur on the city’s north/northeast/northwest side.
  • The combined average age of victims is 31.  The combined average age of the suspects was 33.
  • In 66 percent of the cases, the relationship between the victim and the suspect was unknown.
  • Only 59 of the murders were known to motivated by a fight or domestic dispute.
  • 82 percent of the deaths were caused by gunshots.
  • Nearly half the homicides occurred in January, May, August, and September and November.
  • Saturday was the day most murders occurred.
  • And murders were likely to take place between 9 p.m. and midnight.