Fresno Police Department reports decrease in homicides in 2023
One trend that has popped up this year is homicides among the homeless.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Even one homicide is too many, and the city of Fresno has had 33 so far this year.
The Fresno Police Department says that is a huge improvement compared to 2022, which had 60 homicides.
"We're seeing a significant increase in solving crimes and a significant decrease in murders altogether, so that's a very positive outlook for our department," said Fresno Police Lt. Paul Cervantes.
November has been a particularly deadly month this year, though. So far, there have been five homicides.
Compared to 2 homicides in each of October, September and August.
Most recently, a man, who has not been identified yet, was shot and killed at a central Fresno apartment complex Monday night. Days before, 21-year-old Adrianna Gonzales died after being shot then run over by a car. And on Thanksgiving, 25-year-old Siranthony Robinson was shot and killed.
"Our department focuses very much on intelligence-led policing. We look for trends, patterns, and things of that sort to deploy resources accordingly. Unfortunately, there is really no rhyme or reason to what we've seen in terms of the violent activity and the uptick in violent crime in the last two weeks per se," said Lt. Cervantes.
One trend that has popped up this year is homicides among the homeless.
Eight unhoused people have been killed so far this year.
Homicide detectives are working to solve each case. Lt. Cervantes says they've had more time to focus on cases since there have been fewer this year.
"Officers are still out there doing their daily patrols. I do believe the reason we've seen such a significant decrease overall in not only murders year-to-date, but shootings year-to-date and violent crime overall is a testament to the fact that we are engaged in community-based policing and intelligent-led policing," said Lt. Cervantes.
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