ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis has tied its all-time record homicide rate following a shooting death at a north side bar.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 36-year-old William Edwards of Cahokia, Illinois, was killed Sunday night at Bernie’s Place Lounge & Restaurant. Edwards died inside the bar. A 28-year-old woman is suspected in the crime.
Authorities have not revealed a motive.
St. Louis has reported 207 killings this year, a 25-year high with nearly three months still to go in 2020. The city recorded 248 homicides in 1994.
The highest number of killings ever in St. Louis was 267 in 1993. But the city’s population then was about 387,000 and the homicide rate was 69 per 100,000 residents.
St. Louis’ population has dropped by about 86,000 people since then, so the 207 killings in a city of 301,000 is also a rate of 69 per 100,000 residents.
