Data shows 2010s second-worst decade for homicides in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The ten years from 2010 to 2020 had the second most homicides on record for the city of Louisville.

According to data released by the Pegasus Institute on Sunday, 742 people were killed in criminal homicides from 2010 through 2019.

From 1970 through 1979, 878 people were killed.

Included in the most recent decade was 2016, which was the most violent year on record in Louisville, as LMPD investigated 117 murders, the most the city has ever seen.

2018 saw a total of 80 criminal homicides, according to police crime statistics, a 25 percent decrease, year to year.

The release was part of a gathering of gun violence survivors and family members of those killed organized by community activist Christopher 2X.

"Hopefully in 2020 a lot of good things will start to happen," 2X said.

The idea of the gathering is to raise awareness about how pervasive gun violence in the city is. The data did not include information about homicides from other jurisdictions like St. Matthews or Shively.

"I just wish they would stop and put the guns down," said Nicole Cowherd, who has lost her husband and son to gun violence in recent years. "Until you sit in that front row of the funeral home or the church, it's gotta stop."