EDMONTON – NEWS – The City of Edmonton has had twenty-five homicides so far in 2017, however Edmonton Police are only stating that twenty-three of those deaths are homicides. Edmonton has had four homicides in the past ten days this June. Chief of Police Simpson hosted a media conference to seek to assure residents of the Alberta capital that the city is a safe place for people.
“Edmonton is and continues to be a safe city,” Chief Simpson told the media at a press conference.
The Chief explained that in seventy-five per cent of the cases of homicide this year that the victim knew their attacker. Substance abuse and alcohol continue to be a factor in a majority of the homicides in Edmonton.
Three of the homicides in Edmonton so far this year have been cases where the victim did not apparently know the person who killed them. The Chief relayed that arrests have been made in all of those cases.
The murders appear to be spread over a wide area of the city.
Two of the deaths which are not counted as homicides include:
Edmonton Police Service do not consider the hit-and-run death on May 22nd of Jade Belcourt, 19, as a homicide.
Additionally, Vitaly Savin was shot to death by an Edmonton police officer on March 9th. Because Savin’s case is under investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team and not the Homicide Unit, the Edmonton Police Service do not count it in their statistics as a homicide.
2017 Edmonton Homicides Statistics
- Year to date confirmed homicides – 23
- Year to date confirmed homicides cleared – 15
- Year to date number of victims that knew the accused –Of the 15 cleared files, 3 were stranger homicides and the remaining 12 accused all knew their victims
- Year to date homicides involving firearms – 9
- Year to date homicides involving edged weapons – 9
Edmonton Homicide rates for the past six years
- 2016 – 42 total for the year and 24 by this time in 2016 (June 16)
- 2015 – 33 total for the year and 12 by this time in 2015 (June 16)
- 2014 – 35 total for the year and 12 by this time in 2014 (June 16)
- 2013 – 29 total for the year and 13 by this time in 2013 (June 16)
- 2012 – 30 total for the year and 13 by this time in 2012 (June 16)
- 2011 – 48 total for the year and 25 by this time in 2011 (June 16)
