Tucson’s homicide rate rose 63% compared to the last two years to date. So far in 2021, statistics from the Tucson Police Department show that 49 people have been homicide victims. At this point in 2020 and 2019, that number was 30. Police officials say 70% of homicides are the result of gun violence.
“It’s hard to wrap our hands around this because it comes down to its simply not even road rage, its parking lot rage,” said Tucson Assistant Police Chief Kevin Hall. “We’ve had incidents where people are fighting over a parking spot in a Circle K and there is a shooting and people die.”
TPD has also seen an increase in robberies tied to homicides, according to Hall.
“You know they have this phone app, Offer Up. People will buy, sell, trade on Offer Up, they will meet in some pretty risky places at different times of night, and they get robbed. And if they fight back, they get shot,” Hall said.
The surge in gun violence can be seen across the country.
Hall said an increase in gun purchases in the U.S. may be part of the issue and Arizona’s gun laws aren’t helping.
“You can buy and sell guns here with no background checks. When I first moved here you could buy and sell guns at yard sales, and you still see that occasionally. That is not the norm across the nation, particularly on the East Coast,” said Hall.
Hall did make it clear that he believes that the vast majority of gun owners are responsible.
The lack of background checks on guns that are sold privately is seen as a part of the problem.
“So, because they are so easily purchased and transferred in Arizona it’s not always easy to trace them back. ATF is an excellent partner and they’ve done a really good job of helping us trace back to the original purchaser who either bought through a gun store or some other legitimate enterprise but then the gun gets traded or bought and sold and there is no way to trace that in Arizona,” Hall explained.
It was that type of legal gun sale that allows a weapon to get lost in the system, investigators believe, that allowed Leslie Scarlett to get a gun. Scarlett is the man shot and killed by a Tucson police officer after he went on a July 18th shooting spree that left three others dead and two wounded. Scarlett was not allowed to own a gun because he was a convicted felon.
Investigators with ATF said they were able to trace the gun back to its original owner who eventually sold it to another individual. After that, they have no idea where the weapon went or how many times it was sold until Scarlett used it.
“And therein lies one of …….
Source: https://news.azpm.org/p/newsfeature/2021/8/5/198276-tucson-homicide-rate-soars/