COLUMBUS, Ohio – As Columbus homicide detectives investigate the city’s 56th murder of the year, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds firearm homicide rates dropped in major metropolitan areas across the US, though not in Columbus.
Officers found Ravontae Abernathy, 20, shot to death in a parked white Dodge on the west side of the street in front of 885 Miller Avenue last night. Detectives say their initial investigation indicates the shooting may have stemmed from a drug deal.
Meanwhile, the study from the CDC showed that firearm homicides in many of the nation’s biggest cities declined from 2006 to 2010 but more people used guns to commit suicide.
In Columbus, the study showed 165 firearm homicides and 221 suicides by gun in 2006-07; in 2009-10, the number of homicides increased to 174 while there were three fewer suicides. The per capita firearm homicide rate increased to 4.4 in 2009-10 from 4.3 in 2006-07.
The CDC conducted the study because gun violence continues to be a major public health issue, and remains a leading cause of death among young people in the United States, Dr. Jim Mercy with the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention said.
“Among 10 – 19-year- olds, homicide is the second leading cause of death and suicide the third, and firearms are the primary mechanism used to commit homicide and suicide,” Mercy said.
The gun homicide rate among the younger group in Columbus jumped from 5.1 per 100,000 in 2006-07 to 5.5 in 2009-10. Records on suicides were not kept. Mercy says older, white Americans are most likely to use a gun to commit suicide. And he says the increase in firearm suicides coincided with the recession.
Toby Hoover with the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence says it’s a statistic many people find surprising.
“We’ve created an atmosphere in this country that it’s about good guys and bad guys when it comes to gun violence, and at least at a minimum two-thirds of the gun-violence deaths are from suicides,” he said.
Tonight is National Night Out, an anti-crime event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch and a number of activities are planned across Ohio.
Columbus police officers will be participating in some of the over 150 community events throughout the area between 5:00 and 9:00 p.m., including live music, porch light vigils and cookouts.