Homicides in Austin trending down from 2021: report

AUSTIN, Texas - Crime trends indicated Austin was going to break a record for the number of homicides in the city after a violent November, but statistics show homicides in Austin this year are down compared to the last four years.

Homicides are trending down from 2021 but are way up from pre-pandemic numbers.

"You just can't predict who's dangerous and who's not," Austin Police Detective Israel Pina said.

Austin police reported 70 homicides with less than a week left in 2024.

"It's senseless to take a life," Austin resident Glenn Reinke said.

APD crime statistics showed North Central Austin with the highest number of homicides this year at 16, and Southwest Austin with the lowest at zero.

"I really just saw crime scene vehicles all over in, like, yellow tape around the apartment and things like that. And there was a lot of activity out here," Austin resident Kiara Holloway said.

"The fact that this person is now dead and that it happened in my own community and that it happened in my supermarket," an anonymous witness to a homicide said.

The victim’s ages range from a 6-week-old baby to an 83-year-old woman.

Family and friends remember their loved ones.

"He was the father figure for our siblings, he was a protector of his family, so, he's missed by a lot of people," Warnero Young’s friend, Stephanie Carrillo, said.

"He was a character. Let's just put it that way," Robert Joseph St John, Jr.’s friend, Mike Brown, said.

"He was definitely like a big brother to me," Tyler Cochran’s friend, Piper Whitt, said.

"She was just a sweet old lady that just loved talking to her neighbors," Linda Mlsna’s friend, Phillip Pense, said.

Last year, 75 homicides were reported, up from 71 in 2022, but down from a record-high 88 in 2021. In 2019, pre-pandemic, APD reports 36.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said she plans to address these killings.

"What is occurring? Where are guns coming from? Who is committing these homicides? So, when you're looking at where these homicides are happening, a lot of them are drug related. We have probably 13 to 15% of those homicides are family violence, so what are the interactions and what can we do as an organization to intercede in those things?" Chief Davis said.

Records show Austin police have arrested suspects in most of the cases this year, but suspects are still on the loose in about 25 percent of them.

"It is a pain that words can not adequately describe, but I stand before you today not only in grief, but in hope that justice will be served," Cristian Rangel’s mother, Misty Moon, said.

If you have any information to help with these investigations, call the Austin Police department.