Los Angeles Homicides Jump 39 Percent Since 2019

Los Angeles Police Department officers stand at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Sunset Boulevard where a body covered in a white sheet lies on the pavement in Los Angeles on April 24, 2021. Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—In the first half of 2022 homicides in the City of Los Angeles shot upward a whopping 39 percent from 2019. That was the year before the 2020 start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That summer also saw crime increase in most cities after the national riots following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) data showed 181 homicides from January to July 2022. That was up from 180 in the same period in 2021. The numbers were 140 in 2020 and 130 in 2019.