Nashville recorded 101 homicide cases in 2023: Here's what the numbers tell us

A light shined on two bare wreaths with red bows draped along the outside. They didn’t stay empty for long as family members who lost loved ones to violent crimes delicately adorned them with ornaments.

John and Julie Mullinix were among those who placed more than two dozen ornaments on the wreaths. It's been 17 years since the couple lost their daughter Kimberly Wyatt and grandaughter Sarah Wyatt to gun violence in a Crossville shooting.

The two were keynote speakers at December's Season to Remember, an annual event honoring homicide victims. It’s an event that grows each year as more people lose their lives, leaving loved ones behind to face a sometimes overwhelming grief.

“We thought we would never be able to smile again. We thought we’d never be able to enjoy our lives,” Julie Mullinix said. “We attended Season Remember that first year, and for the first time, we did not feel alone.”

In 2023, 101 new families in Nashville faced Christmas without someone they loved because of a violent crime, three less than the prior year.

While there were fewer cases in 2023, several were especially heinous. Six people, including three children, were gunned down at The Covenant School. A 4-year-old was shot to death after the car she was in was targeted. Several people were shot while driving, and one missing man was found shot to death and concealed in the back of his vehicle after it was towed.

"Senseless gun violence is claiming the lives of too many men, women and children. We must do better, Nashville," Metro Nashville police Chief John Drake said in May. "Our police department is committed to doing its part. Gun owners, family members, church congregations and others all have a role in securing weapons so they won't be stolen and teaching persons that violence and gunfire is not the answer to address conflict."

Here is a look back at Nashville's 2023 homicides, by the numbers.

Homicide victims by age, gender

The victims were generally young, with more than half under the age of 30.

A third of all victims were between 20-29 years old. The second highest number of victims were teenagers or younger.

In 2022, there was one child younger than 10 listed as a victim of violence. In 2023, there were four, including the three children —  Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs — killed in the Covenant School shooting. Four-year-old Taliyah Frazier was killed in May when the vehicle she was a passenger in was targeted by gunmen.

Four out of five victims were men, a trend that has remained steady for several years. All but one of the eight fatal domestic violence victims were women, accounting for about 37% of the total female victims.

Homicide victims by race

The majority of victims were Black, accounting for about 62% of the cases in 2023, a trend that has continued since at least 2016.

For the first time in seven years, Hispanic people surpassed white people as the second highest demographic of victims in 2023. While numbers have steadily remained under 13, this year, 21 people identified as Hispanic were counted among the victims. MNPD reported that 16 victims were white and two were Asian or listed as other.

Homicide cases by month, method

Last year began very violently, averaging one homicide every 43 hours in January.

March followed as the second deadliest month, with 12 cases, and July was third with 11.

More than 90% of 2023's violent deaths were the result of gunfire. Seven cases were committed with a knife or "cutting instrument" while one was the result of blunt force trauma.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville homicides 2023: Gun violence leading cause of death