YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The median age of murder victims has fallen dramatically over the last six months of the year.
That year, the median age of a murder victim is 26.6 years, according to data from Youngstown Police and Mahoning County Coroner. Youngstown is up to 15 murders this year.
From 2016 to 2020, the average age of the victims was 32.3 years. The city recorded 122 homicides over this five-year period.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Rod Foley admitted that the age has been going down lately, but he also said the year isn’t over yet, so chances are the numbers won’t stay the same.
Of the 15 murder victims that year, eight were under 25 and five under 20 years old.
Of the last eight murders in the city, seven of the victims were under 23 and three under 20.
Youngstown Police are looking for a suspect who stabbed a woman on the north side
For 2021, 63 people were shot in the city, including the 15 murder victims. At that time last year, 44 people had been shot, including 15 of 16 murder victims.
98 people were shot dead in Youngstown in 2020, including 27 of 28 murder victims – an increase from 40 shooting victims from 2019 when 59 people were shot.
Foley said the most important thing he sees is more and more younger people carrying guns. He said because they are so young they tend not to think before they shoot.
“It seems that a lot more young children are carrying guns,” said Foley. “We arrest a lot of them with firearms and at this stage of maturity they snap themselves with them.”
Of 87 people arrested for gun possession this year, 22 are under the age of 21.
In the past two weeks, the prosecutor’s office has been around. asked Bonds for three of the people arrested for gun possessionsaid they were suspects in the recent revenge shootings in town.
In the past, drug trafficking was the main cause of violence in the city. Foley said that was not the case this year.
Instead, feuds with groups of younger people carrying guns have so far been responsible for most of the violence.
Foley said that people who are in the drug trade tend to be older and more calculating. They are not that inclined to resort to violence and when they do it is usually aimed at a specific target.
“Younger children will take to the streets with guns and spray more houses [with gunfire] and they’re random, ”said Foley.
Randy Nuby, who ran the Respect Basketball League, which was recently founded to bring something positive to children, said keeping young people busy is one of the keys to keeping them out of trouble.
He heard a frequent complaint from young people who signed up for the league last spring.
“They’re basically complaining about nothing to do,” said Nuby.
He said having things like a basketball league or a community center for young people gives them positive things to do and places to go. It brings them to like-minded people who are also likely to stay out of trouble.
The road that goes through Youngstown and Boardman will be closed this week
Malik Mostella, a city policeman who acts as a liaison for the community, said he was working on other recreational opportunities in the city for young people.
Nuby said plans are in the works for some sort of summit with members of the league who will meet and tell organizers what worries them and what adults can do to help.
“You can tell us how we can help them,” said Nuby. “You’re going to rule the city one day, so we need this.”
Above all, Nuby said he wanted to reach people who are at risk of committing or falling victim to violence in order to get them involved in something positive.
At a summit earlier this year, some players in the league said that people they know are carrying guns because so many other people are carrying guns. They think they have to wear to be safe.
Foley said this is a common refrain when investigators question a young person arrested for a gun crime.
“For some reason they feel so insecure that they have to take them everywhere,” said Foley. “Every time we talk to them, they said they need [a gun] for protection.”
