Akron homicides in 2023 reach lowest rate in years; murders drop to pre-pandemic levels

Things are trending in a positive direction when it comes to homicides in Akron.

The number of homicides in the city last year dropped to its lowest level in six years, and the number of murders were just half of the record high of 50 in 2020.

What's more, the rate of Black people and people under 30 dying from firearms dipped significantly. However, firearms still made up the vast majority of homicides in both the city and county.

Akron last year saw a total of 34 homicides, the lowest number since 2016, when there were 32.

Homicides are defined as the killing of one person by another and include deaths such as murders, killings done in self-defense and accidental shootings, among other causes.

Akron police report 26 of last year's homicides were murders, or the unlawful, unjustified killing of another person.

The eight homicides not counted as murders in 2023 include two infants and a 6-year-old who died of fentanyl poisoning, a woman who was accidentally shot, and four men whose deaths were ruled to have involved self defense, according to Akron police.

According to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, the city in 2020 saw a record high of 57 homicides, 50 of which were murders.

More: Akron sees surge in homicides in 2017

Homicide rate has been dropping across the U.S.

What's contributed to the decline?

Akron's decline in deaths matches a national trend in big cities: From 2022 to 2023, homicide rates dropped 11.9% in New York, 16.4% in Los Angeles, 13% in Chicago, 20% in Houston and 22% in Phoenix, according to those police departments' internal statistics.

Ames Grawert, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, told USA TODAY that the shutdown of public spaces and services may have contributed to the violence experienced during the pandemic shutdowns that started in 2020.

"Local public spaces like libraries closed," Grawert said. "Programs that we know are important to community safety, like violence intervention programs, cognitive behavioral therapy programs – things like that either closed or became significantly less effective, because you have to do those things face to face."

In a recent interview, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said city officials aren't clear what caused the decline in deaths locally last year.

"I don't know that we have kind of a scientific assessment of it," he said. "I think that certainly the city is doing aggressive gun violence enforcement and gun violence details. We're working with federal partners, and I think those those efforts are proving effective.

"We also are focusing more on on prevention and really working on funding violence prevention, but it's hard to describe a correlation to any of it."

One example of the city's focus on gun crime is the joint operation late last year between Akron police with Operation Triple Beam, which involved the U.S. Marshalls Service and other area law enforcement agencies. The operation resulted in the arrest of 135 individuals connected to violent crimes and repeat offenders, as well as gun and drug seizures.

More: Akron PD, U.S. marshals arrest 135 people, seize 22 guns in violence-reduction campaign

Firearms remain primary cause of death

As in previous years, the majority of killings in Akron and Summit County involved firearms.

Only one of Akron's 26 murders last year was not due to firearms: a 2-year-old who died from blunt force injuries.

According to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, 36 of the 41 homicides in the county were firearms-related in 2023.

While that represents a decrease in both gun-related homicides and homicides as a whole, the number of gun homicides in the county is still nearly double what it was a decade ago.

An Akron Beacon Journal analysis of growing gun violence shows that from 2007 to 2016, Summit County averaged less than 20 gun homicides a year. Since 2017, the county has averaged 39 annually, with peaks of 50 in 2020 and 51 in 2022.

More: 'It's just out of control.' Summit County data paints grim picture of growing gun violence

The number of gun-related incidents and gun-related calls for service also increased slightly in the city from 2022 to 2023. In 2022, there were 619 reports of discharging firearms, felonious assaults with firearms, and murders with firearms. That number increased to 633 last year, according to police records.

Gun seizures, meanwhile, have decreased about 10% over the last two years, from 949 in 2022 to 868 last year. Gun seizures last year were down one-third since a peak of nearly 1,300 in 2021, the year before a new state law that allows concealed carry without a permit went into effect.

More: Murders down in Akron during first half of 2023. What is the city doing to reduce violence?

Fewer Black murder victims, shooting victims younger than 30

According to Akron police data, in both 2021 and 2022, about 80% of the murder victims were male and 84% were Black.

The number of male victims in 2023 remained about the same at 81%, while the number of Black murder victims dropped to 65%.

The percentage of shooting victims under age 30 also continued to decline last year to 50% of murders. The percentage had previously dropped from 64% in 2021 to 54% in 2022.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1lq42t01R8W1idwb6PK80TSloBIGorEc&usp=sharing

Police have solved 62% of 2023 murders so far, an increase over the nearly 55% solve rates for the previous two years.

Most of the murders committed in the record-high year of 2020 − 86% of cases − have been solved, according to police records.

Two freeway shootings involved Akron residents

Two of last year's murders in the county were rare freeway shootings that involved Akron men.

Dacarrei Tovon Kinard, 30, of Columbus, was charged with first-degree felony murder in the May 17, 2023, shooting of George Jensen, 40, of Akron on Interstate 76 in Norton.

More: Suspect in Norton road rage shooting drove back past I-76 scene after incident

Norton police said they identified Kinard after a license plate reader identified a black Camaro witnesses said was driven by the shooter after it exited I-76 eastbound at Barber Road.

A jury trial in his case is set for March 21 in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kathryn Michael's courtroom.

Less than three months later, Akron resident Marquise Banks, 23, was shot and killed on Interstate 77 in Green. Three men have been charged in his Aug. 3 shooting death.

Sirvonte Suggs, 18, of Akron was the first to be arrested. He has been charged with aggravated murder. The Summit County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that detectives believe the shooting was a result of an ongoing dispute between Suggs and Banks.

A pretrial in Suggs' case is set for Tuesday in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kelly McLaughlin's courtroom.

Also arrested and charged with murder are Giovanni Porter, 23, of Carrollton, Texas, and Ahmere Williams, 20, of Akron. Williams also faces murder charges in the Aug. 16 shooting death of Antenio Louis, 17, and the death of Tyson Arnold, 24, in April 2023.

Triple-murder suspect had history of drug trafficking

Another unusual incident in 2023 involved the execution-style murders of three Youngstown men. The men had been tied and gagged, shot in the head and their bodies dumped on undeveloped property − two by the side of a road on the west side of Akron and one in Copley Township.

The two men found in Akron, off Cordova Avenue in a small wooded area near the Interstate 77 sound barrier, were Inmer Reyes, 25, and Victor Varela-Rodriguez, 31. The man found in Copley, off Wright Road and less than 2 miles from the Akron scene, was 35-year-old Domingo Castillo-Reyes. All three were found by passing motorists March 10, 2023.

Elias Gudino, 59, has been charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other felonies.

He had previously served prison time from 2010 to 2017 after being sentenced to 12½ years in prison for trafficking kilograms of cocaine to sellers in the Akron area in transactions worth many tens of thousands of dollars, according to court records.

More: Chance encounter at gas station aids Copley police with arrest in quadruple shooting case

A fourth victim in the triple homicide escaped the Copley scene and, in a bizarre coincidence, identified Gudino while sitting in a police cruiser at a local gas station.

Copley police said the man had sought help the morning the three bodies were found, and they had stopped to get him a Coke when Gudino arrived to make a purchase.

Police said the survivor told them he and the three other men were kidnapped from a Youngstown home, bound and gagged, and brought to a home in the Akron area. He said he and one of the other men were taken to Wright Road where they were shot on the side of the road. He had been shot in the head, but the bullet only grazed his skull and he played dead, police said.

More: What we know now about the Akron, Copley triple homicide

In the drug case, investigators said they had information that Gudino had been trafficking drugs since the 1990s and now had an operation that was based in southern Mexico but reached across the U.S. in Ohio, Colorado, Oklahoma and other states, court records said.

A trial in Gudino's case is set for March 4 in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands' courtroom.

Comments or questions on this story can be sent to bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Murders, homicides trend down in Akron in 2023; gun violence still high