2019 sees small drop in number of homicides

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – It’s now officially 2020 but on Wednesday the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department released the end-of-year homicide numbers.

According to the department, in 2019 there were 171 homicides with 152 of those being intentional homicides (murders.). The difference between those numbers, 19, has been classified as either self-defense, non-criminal or defense of another.

That 171 number is a slight decrease from 2018, which had 178 homicides, according to IMPD.

Data from IMPD shows November 2019 had the highest number of homicides this year with 21, which was followed by August with 17 and June and December, both with 16 homicides.