Pittsburgh homicides hit lowest in 20 years

Homicides in Pittsburgh dropped by more than a quarter in 2019, the lowest the city has seen in more than two decades, according to data from city police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Pittsburgh police reported 37 homicides citywide, down 29% from the 52 homicides in 2018.

The city has not seen a number that low since 1998, when 37 people were killed, according to Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri.

The citywide total has been decreasing since a spike in 2014, a year that saw 70 homicides – nearly twice as many as the year prior.

Of those killed in Pittsburgh in 2019, all but four were men and all but three were shot to death. July saw the highest number of homicides with seven. There was only one in October, after which there were 32 days without a homicide.

Five victims were 18 or younger. Three weren’t old enough to vote.

There were 59 homicides in the rest of Allegheny County.

The official list distributed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office lists 95 homicides countywide, including Pittsburgh. The list does not include Tiffany Williams, who died two days after she was the victim of a home invasion in Penn Hills. A release from county police at the time referred to her death as a homicide.

The official count also does not include 41-year-old Jacob Brown, who died after an alleged fist fight at the Hotel Monaco in Downtown Pittsburgh on Dec. 14. His cause and manner of death have not been released, but Pittsburgh police said he is part of their homicide count.

The list includes one individual who died at an Allegheny County hospital after they were transported there from elsewhere in the state.

Of the 59 homicides outside of Pittsburgh, four were officer-involved shootings, 46 involved firearms, and 13 were women. Five weren’t old enough to drink, and three were 18 or younger.