DAYTON — This year started with a double homicide in Dayton and it comes after one of the most violent years in Dayton in half a decade.
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In 2024, especially the summer months, seemed to be filled with reports of gun violence and deaths. News Center 7 uncovered numbers from the Dayton Police Department records that show crimes involving guns were up in almost every category.
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Paul Henderson, a 22-year-old from Dayton, said he knew a lot of people around his age who died last year. He didn’t need to look at those records to know gun violence took a lot of young people’s lives.
A Shaftesbury Drive homicide in May claimed the lives of a 32-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy. A month later, in June, a drive-by shooting at a “pop-up party” took the lives of a 22-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man.
“I just know hopefully this year is different,” Henderson said.
The 44 homicides in Dayton last year were well above the three years that came before it. Gun-related aggravated assaults jumped to 241 last year, which also was more than the last three years. Finally, gun-related robberies rose to 146 in 2024, the highest since 2020.
City leaders are working with police and others to try to bring about change. Mayor Jeffrey Mims, Jr. is working on violence interruption programs he hopes to have in place sometime this year.
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