The US last year endured the highest increase in murders since the FBI started tracking national crime records in 1960, a report said.
In 2020, there were about 5,000 more homicides across the country than a year earlier — for a total of roughly 21,500, according to preliminary FBI data reviewed by The New York Times.
Breaking the numbers down, the US saw a 30 percent rise in murders last year, well-above the previous record increase of 12.7 percent in 1968, according to the report.
The grim data is set to be released by the FBI on Monday as part of the agency’s annual Uniform Crime Report.
An overwhelming majority — 77 percent — of murders last year were committed with guns, which represents another record high number.
The bloodshed was widespread, and the increase was seen in every US region last year, the report said.
Big cities were particularly hard-hit. Those with populations over 250,000 that reported full data saw a 35 percent increase in killings.
Despite the astronomical rise in murders compared to 2019, the number of killings is still far below the rates experienced in the US in the early 1990s, the report said.
