LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville has reached 70 homicides in the first five months of the year, according to Louisville Metro Police data.

There were 14 homicides in May, according to community activist Christopher 2X. Another 34 victims were wounded by non-fatal gunfire in the month.

"Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have triple-digit homicides again for the third straight year, which is unacceptable," 2X said in a news release. "One homicide is one too many but a hundred or more homicides in a year is just not safe and hard to believe."

This year, there have been 164 people who have been wounded by non-fatal gunfire.

"I see every day the senseless gun violence has on kids and families," 2X, who leads local nonviolence nonprofit Christopher 2X Game Changers, said. "They suffer from grief and trauma because they've lost someone close, know someone was wounded, or just because they hear gunfire all too often. You do not have to be hit to be traumatized." 

Last year, 188 homicides were reported, 24 of whom were children ages 17 and younger. That set a record for homicides in a single year, after 173 homicides were reported in 2020.

2X said 583 people were wounded by gunfire last year.

Based on the current trend of the first five months of the year, Louisville is on pace for 169 homicides and 396 non-fatal shootings in 2022. That averages to almost a homicide every two days, along with a person shot non-fatally every day.

Last month, the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN) said LMPD reported a 16% reduction in violence and 40% reduction in shootings in Louisville.

LMPD said there were been 12 domestic violence-related homicides this year on May 20. In April, LMPD Chief Erika Shields said 20-25% of the city's homicides are directly tied to domestic violence in some form.

Anyone with information about a shooting is asked to call the LMPD anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD (5673) or submit a tip using LMPD's online portal. 

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