According to local media, 34 people were shot in Los Angeles during a “troubling week,” according to Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Michel Moore.
According to reports, citing City News Service, the police chief told the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday that 23 of the shootings occurred within a “remarkably small area” last week in the country’s second-largest city.
“The problem that we have throughout Los Angeles is that too many guns in too many hands,” Moore was quoted as saying.
So far this month, 70 people have been shot in Los Angeles, compared to 55 during the same period last year. So far in 2022, there have been 107 homicides, compared to 109 at this time last year. While the number has decreased slightly in 2022, Moore stated that it still represents a 37% increase over a two-year period, according to City News Service.
According to Moore, violent crime has increased 7.1% year to date, with 575 additional violent crimes reported, primarily aggravated assaults, street robberies, and commercial robberies.
According to a database maintained by the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive, over 23,000 people have died or been injured in gun-related incidents in the United States so far this year.
