LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officials reported a “spasm of violence” in the city that led to more homicide and shooting cases this year—largely related to robberies, gang activity, and homeless encampments—during an LA Police Commission meeting on May 3.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore reported 36 homicides in April 2022—the highest April number in four years—and 122 homicides so far this year, up from 116 a year ago.
The total number of violent incidents so far this year increased by 7.5 percent versus last year, and 15.5 percent from 2020.
Total crime is up in the city by 11.1 percent compared to the same time last year, with an 8.7 percent increase over a two-year period.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the city saw an increase in shootings in April—particularly in the 77th Division in South LA, which had 11 homicides last month that led to the overall increase in violent crimes.
“We saw a significant number of shooting violence in the 77th area,” Moore said. “Some of those did result in homicides, and some did not.”
Moore said the key for the LAPD to lower crime rates is to examine “pockets of violence” and search for crime trends in those areas since “violence is not uniform around the entire city.”
Robberies, gang activity, and homeless encampments were the three main driving forces behind shooting violence in Los Angeles, according to Moore.
Shooting cases were up 33 percent in April 2022 from last April with 32 additional victims, marking an even larger increase of 61 percent compared to April 2020, with 49 additional victims.
Moore said the LAPD is currently investigating several violent cases from April—including a warehouse fire and a double homicide where robbery is a likely motive.
To address gang violence, the LAPD is working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the city’s Gang Reduction Youth Development program run by the mayor’s office to do outreach in areas with high levels of gang activity, according to the chief.
“I am encouraged that [the programs] are making contact with a number of individuals that represent various street gangs in efforts to dispel rumors and myths, as well as to dispel tensions resulting many times from social media posts and other low-level nonsense, if you will, that spurs violence and spurs people who resort to this type of violence,” Moore said.
The homeless population is also affected by high rates of violence, Moore said, with 20 percent of the city’s homicide victims this year being homeless.
Moore said that homeless encampments often have “significantly high levels of violence—including shooting violence, aggravated assaults, sexual assaults, as well as robberies.”
The chief said he believes the solution to homeless encampments is “not so much as [law] enforcement” but shelters, cleanup services, and “outreach engagement.”
“[Our] hope is that the outreach engagement and ... [encampment] cleanup services will allow for [housing] placement [of homeless individuals], as well as to resolve a number of these [encampment] locations,” Moore said.
A spokesperson for the LAPD was not immediately available for comment.
