LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nine people were shot between Saturday and Sunday in Louisville, two of whom died in a two-day stretch Louisville Metro Police called a "shock to the conscience."

The weekend capped a violent start to December. Here is information on each of the nine shootings from this weekend:

Last year set a record for Jefferson County homicides, totaling 195 county-wide. Through Dec. 10 this year, homicides are down 14% over the same stretch of 2021. 

Still, information from LMPD for Dec. 2022 shows so far this month there have been nine homicides.

"Our level of gun violence in the city, although its decreasing, it's still unacceptable," said Lt. Col. Steve Healey, assistant chief of police and patrol bureau commander for LMPD. 

Christopher 2X, a community activist and executive director of the Game Changers organization, said these shootings have a lasting impact on families, including situations with survivors.

"400 plus non-fatals is serious and there's a lot of loneliness and dark spaces that those gunshot wound survivors are living in right now that we can't even imagine what that is to live like that," said 2X.

Monday afternoon, Healey spoke about the level of violence over the weekend and how that impacts the department. 

"We're already short manpower, so you have to have your beat officers, they're responding, they're securing a scene, you've got homicide detectives that are responding or division level detectives that are responding so if they're at one scene, that could tie up anywhere from 15-20 officers and then you have another one and they're going back and forth," he said. "In the meantime while they're going back and forth to these scenes, they're also not being able to make calls for service, actively patrol, be visible in the neighborhood, so there is a huge rippling effect as we respond to not just one shooting but if you have five."

Still, he said improvements are being made. Aside from homicide numbers being less than last year, Healey said non-fatal shootings are also down and homicide clearance rates are increasing.

He attributes that to changes including outsourcing DNA and getting results back sooner, having a more visible presence in neighborhoods, and more people calling in with community tips, among other things.

"We can't solve these on our own. It's going to take a group effort between us and the community," Healey said. 

He said as of now, there have not been any arrests made in this weekend's shootings and police do not believe the shootings are connected. 

"They don't indicate that they're connected in any way as it relates to a specific shooter or a single incident. The way they are connected though is we've had individuals that have decided to make poor decisions and utilize a handgun to solve their differences," he said. "Every one of these shootings could have easily been prevented this weekend had someone made a better decision."

While the department is in the middle of a transition preparing for a interim police chief to begin on Jan. 2 and Mayor-Elect Craig Greenberg is searching for a new permanent chief, Healey said that will not impact how the department is investigating cases. 

"The transition does not have an effect on how we are policing. We are still focused on violent crime, we're still focused on our higher level investigations," he said. "The way we are conducting our investigations has not changed and that has not impacted how we're investigating crime."

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