Data Shows 22 Homicides in December Ending The District’s Deadliest Year in Decades

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D.C. Witness data shows that in December 2023 there were seven non-fatal shootings and 22 homicides in the District.

Of those 22 homicides, three were stabbings and the rest shootings.

Most notably, 85-year-old Steven Schwartz was charged with second-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of his 81-year-old wife, Sharron Hilda Schwartz. The incident occurred in their residence on Dec. 10, on the 1300 block of Corcoran Street, NW.

According to documents from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), officers responded to the location, where they located the woman with stab wounds and the man with self-inflicted wounds. Both were transported to a local hospital, where Sharron succumbed to her injuries.

D.C. Witness reported on one mass shooting in December, which left two individuals dead and two injured.

According to MPD documents, on Dec. 21, officers responded to the 1300 block of Half Street, SW, after receiving a report of a shooting, where they located three men and a woman with gunshot wounds.

The woman succumbed to her injuries at the scene, and the men were all transported to a local hospital, where one remains in treatment, one was released, and another one succumbed to his injuries.

The victims were identified as 35-year-old Patricia Harris and 24-year-old Tyrone Jacobs.

MPD is still searching for the individual or individuals responsible for the shooting.

December put an end to the District’s deadliest year in decades. According to D.C. Witness data, there were 278 homicides for the year, a jump from the 219 homicides recorded in 2022, and the 177 homicides recorded in 2015.

The graphs show that over 250 homicides occurred in DC in 2023, less than 100 individuals were arrested in connection to the incidents, and less than 50 were convicted.

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