HRM murder rate hits highest point in six years
Posted Aug 16, 2011 07:22:37 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a number that you don’t want to see climbing, but the murder rate in Halifax has hit its highest point in the last six years with four months left to go in 2011.
Halifax Regional Police have opened 13 homicide cases so far this year and investigators are noting a common trend.
HRP Cst. Brian Palmeter tells Metro News most of the killings this year involve people known to one another in the “criminal underworld.” He says disputes among drug rivals have escalated over the past few years with many more involving guns.
In the past six years, metro’s highest murder rate for an entire year was 12. That was in 2005, 2009 and 2010.
Halifax’s soaring murder rate is a big concern for some people News 95.7 spoke with Monday morning.
“Yeah, I am nervous. I’m very scared,” one gentleman said. “I’m homeless, I’m on the street and it scares me all the time knowing that there could be somebody out there to kill me.”
But not everyone is worried for their personal safety.
“I think it’s more targeted,” one lady said. “I’m not worried. Not about myself, anyway.”
“It’s a problem definitely but I’m not worried,” said another man. “It doesn’t seem to affect where I live.”
Of the 13 homicides this year, eight remain unsolved.
The latest murder in the region was over the weekend on Montage Road outside of Dartmouth where Paul Livingstone, 58, was found shot to death in his home.
Police are seeking two persons of interest, a man and woman in their late 50s or early 60s.
