Homicides down so far this year

Jun. 10—HIGH POINT — Homicides in the city have dropped so far in 2023 compared to last year, continuing a trend that dates from homicides declining between 2021 and 2022.

This year the High Point Police Department has responded to five homicides as of Friday, down from eight homicides during the same period in 2022. Last year the city recorded 14 homicides, down from 19 in 2021.

Four of the homicides in 2023 happened in a single, stunning murder-suicide at the first of the year when 45-year-old Robert Crayton Jr. shot and killed his wife and three of the couple's children. The murder-suicide, which police called one of the largest losses of life during a single local crime in several decades, occurred Jan. 7 at a residence in a north High Point neighborhood.

Crayton shot and killed his wife, Athalia Athena Crayton, 46, and children Nasir, Nyla, and Kasim before fatally shooting himself.

The other homicide this year happened on Eskdale Drive in east High Point March 4.

A 28-year-old man from Greensboro, Michael S. Brown Jr., was shot and killed at a house. A 25-year-old man from High Point, Anthony T. Oliver, was arrested and charged in the homicide.

High Point police Chief Travis Stroud said the decline in homicides may reflect the firm approach to law enforcement by the department that has led to arrests, trials, convictions and lengthy prison terms for criminals.

"On crime fighting, we have taken a pretty proactive stance on identifying those offenders who are in the violent crime game," Stroud told The High Point Enterprise. "We arrest those folks, and I think that definitely plays a role. We are very aggressive on that end within the rules of law and I think that has definitely made a difference."

Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump said that her office has consistently sought lengthy sentences for defendants convicted of murder in High Point. In the past two years she cited nine cases of homicide trials in which convicted murder defendants received sentences ranging from 12-15 years to life imprisonment.

"My office has taken a strong position in focusing on and aggressively prosecuting violent crime so that we can bring back safety to our community," Crump told The Enterprise. "Vigorous prosecution along with the help of the High Point Police Department have led to long prison sentences, which sends a message to our community that violent crime will not be tolerated."

Stroud said that the decline in homicides may represent the benefits of an initiative launched four years ago by his predecessor, retired chief Ken Shultz, in conjunction with the Guilford County District Attorney's Office. Shultz and the District Attorney's Office began seeking to have the courts offer no bond to defendants arrested in the most serious shooting cases in the city, with the goal of keeping them off the street fomenting more violence.

The campaign featured Shultz and other police leaders appearing in court during bond hearings to make their case against defendants.

Stroud said that getting maximum sentences for convicted homicide defendants or other criminals involved in violent crime can make a difference by reducing the number of culprits who would otherwise be out in public.

"It sends a lot of reverberations through the community," the chief said. "It's validation for the charges law enforcement has made. It shows citizens we are doing our job to keep the community safe. And it's got to ring something with criminals. When you see people getting those 'max' sentences, that's big. It'll make some people think twice."

Stroud said that modern medicine and first response medic training for police officers and paramedics also may have led to a lower homicide rate. The police have responded to several shootings this year that could have become homicides if not for the quick intervention of first responders.

"Triage and trauma care definitely has a role to it," he told The Enterprise.

Stroud said the decline in homicides validates the police making the prevention and response to violent crime the top law enforcement priority.

"It's the hard work of our officers and detectives," the chief said. "The boots on the ground are getting the work done."

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul