Sacramento's homicide rate this year close to matching 2021 total, which was highest in 15 years
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento is just three homicides away from matching last year's number, which was the highest in more than a decade.
A shooting on Haywood Street in the city's Del Paso Heights neighborhood became the city's latest murder.
"It's sad. It's a sad situation," said Aaron Cardoza.
Cardoza grew up in the area and now is president of Brother 2 Brother, a group working to prevent this type of violence.
"We have a gun awareness class. We have anger management classes. We try to offer job opportunities," he said.
Tuesday's murder happened just two blocks from Grant High School with kids on campus at the time. Another murder occurred at the school during a Friday night football game in October.
Cardoza said the violence has been tough for students.
"They don't want to believe that this is happening right in their neighborhood," he said.
Last year, there were 57 homicides in the city of Sacramento — the highest number in 15 years. So far this year, there have been 54 homicides, which includes the worst single act of violence in Sacramento's history: the April mass shooting on K Street that left six people dead.
"We don't show enough respect for life," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
That tragedy had many calling for the city to work harder on reducing crime, and city leaders approved spending $1.5 million toward violence prevention.
"I believe they're doing as much as they can," Cardoza said.
Sacramento police wouldn't comment on camera about the high murder rate, but in September, Chief Kathy Lester told CBS13 it's a trend being seen elsewhere.
"This has been a problem for not just Sacramento, but for our nation," Lester said.
Police say they are working with organizations like Brother 2 Brother to help make streets safer.
"We've stopped over 100 kids from carrying guns," Cardoza said.
The department has also held a gun buyback event that took in 275 firearms.
"The only way you can stop gun violence is to take guns from everybody," Cardoza said.
Cardoza said spending even more money on outreach could also make a difference.
"It would help because we can offer more job opportunities, we can offer more support to the families that can help these kids get on the right track," he said.
Sacramento police say they have solved 34 of the homicides so far this year, which is 63%. That's better than the national average which is just 51%.