TULSA — A year of gun violence has put Oklahoma’s second-largest city one killing away from setting a record for the number of homicides in a year — with five weeks still remaining in 2016.
Midway through the Thanksgiving weekend, Tulsa had recorded 71 homicides this year, tying a record set in 2009.
Unlike seven years ago, when a spike in gang activity was to blame for a majority of the killings, officers say the only unifying thread linking the crimes in 2016 is the involvement of firearms.
“I think it’s concerning, the number of handguns,” said homicide Sgt. Dave Walker, who’s been on the force for 35 years.
“I’m not a big gun-control guy, but guns seem to be coming into play on more and more instances.”
Typically, the city of about 400,000 averages between 54 and 58 homicides a year. The tally’s been as low as 48 recently.
And even though guns appear to be a unifying thread — they’ve been involved in about three-fourths of this year’s homicides — detectives are unable to find common motives.