People are killing each other in New Orleans at unprecedented rates in the new year. While it is early, if this pace of homicides keeps up, the city would see nearly 600 killings by the end of the year.
The record was 424 in 1994.
New Orleans is averaging more than a murder a day in 2023.
"In the first eight days of this year, we are looking a homicide rate 86 percent over what it was during that same period last year," Metro Crime Commission President Rapheal Goyenche told WWL's Newell Normand.
He says there have been 13 homicides in New Orleans in just the first eight days of the year, compared with seven over the same time last year..
Goyenche says the huge spike in January comes after a surge in violence in December.
"December was a bad month. We ended the year on a bad note, and that's continuing into the new year."
Overall shooting incidents have jumped 36 percent in the new year. The city is seeing an average of more than two shootings per day.
"This year is much worse than what it was last year."