LMPD :: Louisville Metro Police Department
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City's homicide toll up this year

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On Aug. 1, 24-year-old Jamar Hamby was shot to death - his body found in a home on 19th Street between Main and Bank streets. So far, Louisville Metro Police have made no arrests in the case.

Finding out who did it wouldn't ease the pain of losing Jamar, said his mother, Maria Hamby but it might bring some sense of closure.

"If someone knows, I just wish they would come forward," she said. "I want closure, and I think that's what everyone wants."

Jamar Hamby is one of 53 people killed in metro Louisville so far this year, including two homicides in Jeffersontown and two in Shively. That's nearly as many as the 55 homicides recorded in metro Louisville for all of last year, which was an unusually low number.

This year's tally is more on par with the numbers recorded in 2005 and 2004, when there were 66 and 70 homicides, respectively.

Police statistics show that about a quarter of this year's homicide victims were under 21. About three-fourths of the homicides were committed with a firearm, and half occurred in the 2nd or 4th police divisions, which include western and central Louisville. Nine homicides took place in the 1st Division, which includes downtown and Portland.

Louisville's numbers are low compared with some cities in the region, although some of those cities are seeing decreases compared with last year. In Memphis, Tenn., for example, police have investigated 107 homicides this year, but that compares with 115 during the same period in 2006. In Indianapolis, there have been 72 homicides so far in 2007, down from 97 at this point last year.

Cincinnati and Nashville, Tenn., also have posted lower numbers, with 49 and 43 this year, respectively. There were 58 in each city by this time in 2006.

But such comparisons bring little consolation, said Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White.

"I'm concerned about one (homicide), and I'm very concerned that there are more than last year," he said.

Police have analyzed this year's cases to see if they can find any pattern or common thread, White said, but they run the gamut of motives, which makes it "more challenging" to come up with strategies for prevention.

There have been four cases in which two people were killed at the same time, including two that stemmed from domestic disputes. And in another case, two people have been charged with killing two men in separate locations.One unusual fact is that four of this year's homicides have involved police officers shooting suspects - including Monday's shooting of Guy Ray III at a National City Bank branch on Bardstown Road.

That case is still in the early stages of investigation, but officers have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the other three:

On Jan. 26, Officer Brent Jones shot 33-year-old James M. White after a pursuit that led to a trailer home on Clark Run Road, where police said White grabbed a knife and began chasing Jones before the officer fatally shot him.

On April 30, Officer Tom Hodgkins shot 16-year-old Evan Harlow. After a brief foot chase, police said, Harlow fired a shot at Hodgkins, who was attempting to arrest him, and Hodgkins returned fire.

On May 2, Ryan A. Smith, 25, was shot by Officer Eric Culver after Smith robbed Freddie's Liquor Outlet. Police said Smith fired several shots at both Culver and Officer Brian Peters.

Another homicide has been ruled as justifiable. Bonnie Porter, 47, was killed by her son, Leon Porter, 28, in their City View Park apartment on July 5. But before she died, police say, Bonnie Porter was able to fire one fatal shot at her son, striking him in the head.

Police found Bonnie Porter was acting to protect her life.Metro police homicide detectives have made arrests in many of this year's homicides, something White said he's happy about.

Of the 44 cases handled by metro police, only 12 remain unsolved. That's a clearance rate of 73 percent. The FBI reports that nationally in 2005, the most recent data available, there was a homicide clearance rate of 62 percent.

Lt. Barry Wilkerson, head of the 19-member homicide unit, credits the high clearance rate in part to cooperation from the public and beat officers.

It's that flow of information from officers and the public that White said he has worked to create since arriving in Louisville in 2003.

"What I hope we can do as a community ... is to try and create an environment where crime is not tolerated," White said.

Wilkerson said he believes that with information from the community, the cases that remain unsolved could see arrests.

In the Hamby case, for example, Wilkerson said his detectives are working some good leads but could use more information from the public.

"A lot of times, people think a little information's not good enough, but sometimes it's the little tip we need," Wilkerson said.

"It's like a puzzle. You know you have the pieces and it's like somebody stole that one little piece. You need that something to connect the pieces and finish the puzzle."