KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The number of Kansas City homicides reported in 2022 has surpassed last year’s homicide total of 157.

With less than a month left in the year, Kansas City homicide totals passed last year’s after KCPD ruled the death of a 4-year-old girl killed inside a home near St. John and Lawndale avenues a homicide.

As of Tuesday, Kansas City has now recorded 158 homicides.

The city saw 157 total homicides reported by the end of 2021, nearly 12% fewer than the record-shattering 179 homicides reported in 2020.

“Every time we lose a life, we are lost,” KC Common Good CEO Klassie Alcine previously told FOX4. “And if one part of our city is not safe, no region is safe.”

KC Common Good is a local nonprofit which seeks to address the root causes of violence.

This interactive graphic above is subject to update.

According to KCPD’s Dec. 1 daily homicide analysis, Kansas City tied with last year’s homicide total on Wednesday. However, FOX4’s independent homicide tracker shows the city had only reached 155 homicides at the time.

KCPD confirmed Kansas City only had 155 deaths officially ruled as homicides on Wednesday, but the department included two death investigations from October into their count that had yet to be officially ruled as homicides.

“Well, the decision was made by the homicide unit who manages the tracker to leave those entries in until the rulings were made,” a KCPD spokesperson said in an email. “So the number will keep those two death investigations unless they are ruled to not be a homicide.”

Therefore, KCPD’s homicide count is two ahead of FOX4’s.

“Depending on how the medical examiner’s office rules they will either be taken out or left in,” a KCPD spokesperson said in an email.

FOX4 will add these deaths to its independent tracker once they are officially ruled as homicides.

Combating violent crime

The month of October has seen the highest number of homicides reported this year, 21, which matches the third-highest month reported in 2020.

From Oct. 13-23, there were 25 shootings, six of which were deadly, KCPD previously told FOX4.

Following a violent October, local organizations, leaders and police banded together to discuss gun violence and ways to combat it. 

The group plans to go into communities with high crime rates and conduct forums each month to discuss conflict resolution and avenues of action.

The city also intends to launch KC 360 by next year, influenced by a successful program based on The Empowerment Network’s Omaha 360 Initiative. It seeks to reduce the number of shootings and overall homicide rate in the area through community engagement.

Since the initiative’s inception, Omaha, Nebraska, saw a 74% reduction in shootings over the course of 15 years and the homicide rate dropped to its lowest in 30 years.

“Hearing from the residents, hearing from those that are most impacted, getting their thoughts and recommendations I think is what has kept people at the table, and then acting on it,” Willie Barney, who started The Empowerment Network, previously told FOX4.

Reverend Darren Faulkner with KC Common Good said they are hopeful for Kansas City.

“One of the things I think we can be successful at here in Kansas City is that collaboration,” Faulkner told FOX4 in October.