NORFOLK, Va. — The killings Wednesday night at a Newport News 7-Eleven pushed Hampton Roads to more than 100 homicides, a grim milestone that comes earlier than years past.
The two men shot to death at the convenience store are the region's 100 and 101st homicide victims this year, according to records kept by 13News Now Investigates.
Last year, Hampton Roads hit 100 homicides a full month later, in mid-July.
In 2020 and 2019, the area recorded 100 homicides by August. And in 2018, we hit 100 a full four months from now, in October.
These trends indicate violence has gotten worse in recent years.
Go back about a decade, to 2011, when FBI data shows 98 homicides in our region for the entire year. Now, that number is already surpassed, not even halfway through the year.
And while motives vary, there is a common cause in most of the 101 killings: 95 of the victims were shot.