A pair of shootings on Wednesday evening, including a murder, brought the bloody month of August to a close. The numbers behind the last month are a bit staggering:

  • There were 52 shootings in August including 17 fatal shootings. That ties April 2010 for the most shooting incidents in New Orleans in any given month dating back to the start of 2010.
  • The 52 shootings in August is a 126% increase over August 2015’s 23 shootings.
  • 60 people were shot and 17 people were murdered in August. That’s nearly as many people as were shot in January and February combined (65).
  • Over half of the shootings (28) occurred in NOPD’s 5th District (St Roch, Seventh Ward, etc) or NOPD’s 7th District (New Orleans East).

The violent August followed a very violent July to form the worst set of back-to-back months for New Orleans gun violence in quite some time.

  • There were a combined 99 shootings in July and August including 37 fatal shootings. That is by far the most shooting incidents in a two-month stretch since at least the start of 2010.
  • There were 42 murders in July and August, the worst pair of months since March-April 2010 when there were 44 murders.
  • Shootings in July and August were most prevalent in the 7th District (25%), 3rd District (Gentilly, 19%) and 5th District (17%).
  • New Orleans was on pace for 413 shootings and 135 murders on July 1. The city is on pace for 457 shootings and 164 murders through August 31. This pace, if realized, would represent a 16 percent increase in shootings relative to 2015.Shootings have had a tendency to slowdown in August and September though that was obviously not the case in August 2016. New Orleans will need a slowdown in shootings in order to avoid the city’s worst year for shootings since 2011.