2023-01-10 08:00:00
Not a title for any city to be happy regarding: New Orleans is ending 2022 with a homicide rate the highest in decades.
New Orleans – Not a title for any city to be happy regarding: New Orleans is ending 2022 with a homicide rate the highest in decades.
Historic Bourbon Street, in the heart of the French Quarter, is famous for its many bars and strip clubs. © sepavo/123RF
With around 385,000 inhabitants, New Orleans is the largest city in the US state of Louisiana.
The “Cradle of Jazz,” hailed as one of America’s most historic and beautiful cities, has a darker side, however.
In September 2022, New Orleans replaced the previous record holder St. Louis (Missouri) as the “homicide capital” of the USA – with 52 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants (45 in St. Louis).
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In the months that followed, violence in the city continued unabated. That brings the year as a whole to 280 homicides (the highest number in 26 years) and a homicide rate of 70 per 100,000 people.
“It’s been a horrible year and a horrible way to end 2022,” crime analyst Jeff Asher, who works for the city council, told Fox News. “The numbers speak for themselves.”
The last days of the year were once once more particularly bloody. For example, the well-known comedian Brandon “Boogie B.” Montrell (✝︎43) shot dead in front of a downtown grocery store. Two teenagers died from gunfire at a house party. And in the French Quarter, a man was shot dead by a youth in broad daylight.
The numbers are alarming – but where is this wave of violence coming from?
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Brandon “Boogie B.” Montrell is among New Orleans’ many fatalities in 2022. He was only 43 years old. © Screenshot Instagram @comedianboogieb
In 2019, “only” 119 homicides were the lowest number in almost 50 years. Experts therefore see the consequences of the corona pandemic as the main reason for the enormous increase in violence in the years that followed.
The virus crisis slowed New Orleans’ economy, causing the city to lose an estimated $200 million a week. People became unemployed, many tourists stayed at home and restaurants and shops had to close.
To make matters worse, Hurricane “Ida” swept through the Crescent City in 2021 and caused massive damage. Another reason given is the cut in funding for the police.
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The social division is already a problem within the USA, in New Orleans it comes into play once more separately – also due to the melting pot of cultures. Democratic mayor LaToya Cantrell (50), who is considered overwhelmed by many of the city’s residents, is currently on a campaign to vote him out of office.
Councilman Eugene Green told Fox News, “The crime rate in our city is tragic, unacceptable, inexcusable and not inevitable. There is no excuse for victimizing and hurting other people.”
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