The year so far has seen 54 criminal homicides in Fresno. How’s that compare to 2021?

After a man was stabbed to death last week, the city of Fresno reached 54 investigations for criminal homicides so far this year and was on pace to be less violent than the previous two.

That said, 2020 and 2021 were particularly violent.

At the same time last year, 2021 had 68 homicides in Fresno and the year ended with 74, according to Fresno Bee archives.

There were 77 homicides in all of 2020, according to numbers from the Californian Department of Justice, second only to the most violent year on record.

That year for Fresno was 1994, when the violent deaths reached 87.

Fresno police have a clearance rate of 81% so far this year on the city’s homicides, according to Lt. Paul Cervantes, who is also commander of the Street Violence Bureau.

The homicides that drew the largest amount of attention this year were the double slaying Sept. 24 of Yanelly Solorio Rivera, an 18-year-old mother, and 3-week-old baby girl, Celine.

After about two months without much news made public in the case, police arrested the young mother’s sister Yarelly Solorio Rivera, 22, and the sister’s boyfriend, Martin Arroyo Morales, 26.

They have been charged with murder and are expected to be arraigned Dec. 8.