Fayette County homicide rate drops to zero in 2019
Following a steady increase since 2015, homicide rates last year dropped to zero in Fayette County for the first time in at least a decade.
鈥淭here was not one homicide at all, all year,鈥� said Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower.
Homicide rates spiked from 2015 to 2018 after averaging two per year in the first half of the decade. Five homicides were reported in 2009, two were reported in 2010, three were reported in 2011, two were reported in 2012 and three were reported in both 2014 and 2015. In 2016, nine homicides were reported, marking the first year of a steady increase. Eleven people died by homicide in Fayette County in 2017 and 14 people died by homicide in 2018 before the rate dropped to 0 in 2019, according to data from the Fayette County Coroner蘑菇视频 Office.
Coroners classify cause and manner of death as natural, accidental, suicide, undetermined, pending or homicide. A coroner蘑菇视频 definition of homicide is separate from the definition of a murder.
Despite the drop, 2020 opened with a homicide on the first day of the year. William Allen, 62, fatally shot his wife, Tina Allen, 61, at their North Union Township home Jan. 1 before turning a gun on himself, according to state police.
鈥淚 just think it蘑菇视频 cyclical,鈥� Bower said, adding that human behavior is unpredictable. 鈥淚t蘑菇视频 just human nature.鈥�
Bower said he did not believe there was any significant change in drug abuse or any other factor that may have reduced the homicide rate.
鈥淭here蘑菇视频 no way that anybody can take credit for it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t蘑菇视频 just the nature of people. It蘑菇视频 the nature of the beast.鈥�