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Gary, Ind., Leads in Per Capita Homicides

Posted on: Friday, 2 January 2004, 06:00 CST

This northern Indiana city appeared to finish 2003 with the nation's highest per capita homicide rate for the ninth straight year, according to police statistics.

Police in Gary, population 103,000, investigated 69 suspicious deaths, 68 of which have been classified as homicides. That total was about 10 percent higher than the 62 in 2002, but down substantially from the 132 people killed in 1995, the Post-Tribune of Merrillville reported Friday.

Based on information from police in major U.S. cities, Gary was poised again to post the highest per capita homicide rate for cities with population of more than 100,000, the newspaper reported.

Chicago, Gary's larger neighbor, finished 2003 with 599 homicides, the highest unofficial total among major U.S. cities.

Police said many of the violence in Gary is done by Chicago residents who move their homes or drug operations to the nearby Indiana city.

"As Chicago tears down its high-rise public housing buildings, many of those people are moving here," said Police Chief Garnett Watson.

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