MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The number of killings has decreased in Tennessee's second most populous city.
The Commercial Appeal reports the figures were among crime statistics released on Thursday by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission. The Commission's third quarter report for 2017 says homicides decreased nearly 18 percent in Shelby County and almost 10 percent in Memphis from January to September.
Both Memphis and Shelby County had record numbers of slayings in 2016, with 228 in Memphis and 17 in Shelby County.
Commission president Bill Gibbons, who is also the executive director of the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute, called the drop "encouraging."
The overall rate of violent and property crime during the third quarter roughly increased 6 percent countywide and 7 percent in Memphis.