Homicides in Las Vegas-area up 14% so far in 2021

LAS VEGAS (AP) – The Las Vegas area saw an increase in homicides in the first half of this year compared to the previous two years, according to a newspaper report.

After falling in 2019, Clark County’s murder cases rose 37% in 2020 and rose again in the first half of 2021, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Monday. There were 75 kills from January to June, compared to 66 kills in the first six months of last year, an increase of 14%.

Las Vegas police reported eight cases of children under the age of 8 killed in the first six months of 2021, a significant increase after seven young child murders were reported throughout 2020.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said that based on his three decades of law enforcement experience, he believed that the COVID-19 pandemic could play a role in the increasing number of young child homicides.

“I think it’s fear of COVID and economic factors in these cases,” Lombardo told the review journal. “A lot of people tend to hit when they don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Lombardo, the elected head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who has announced that he will run for governor of Nevada, said he believes murders are difficult to prevent due to the random nature of violent crimes.

But he said about 93% of police murder investigations in Las Vegas were resolved, compared to about 60% in other US cities.

In the prosecution of homicides, the Review Journal contains fatal police shootings while the Las Vegas Police do not. The record also includes accidental shootings, which are classified as homicides by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

In North Las Vegas, the newspaper counted 16 murders in the first six months of this year, including the killing of three teenagers in 1996, which led to the arrest of 43-year-old Willis Davis in February.

By comparison, there were 13 homicides in North Las Vegas in the first six months of 2020, according to the balance sheet.

Henderson Police investigated seven homicides in the first six months of 2021, the same number as last year and in 2019.

Domestic violence homicides were the top killings in Henderson that year, the review journal reported.

The Review Journal counted four so-called arbitrary homicides in Clark County from January to June.

Including a 54-year-old man who was stabbed to death at a bus stop; a 63-year-old woman who was allegedly beaten and strangled by her neighbor; a 60-year-old man found dead on a street with blunt violent injuries; and a 28 year old man was shot while sitting in a bar.