It’s a sad story repeated already too many times this year. The story of people gunned down, beaten and their bodies abandoned.
This year there have been 35 murders that’s 14 more than this time last year.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford reports there’s more to a murder than a number.
Homicide investigations include more than counting bodies. Police say it’s about understanding what led up to those crimes.
Less than a week ago 14-year-old Trevon Mathies was gunned down in front of an East Tulsa apartment complex.
Police don’t have the exact motive but believe it involved a dispute.
Police say arguments that used to end with a bloody lip are ending with someone never getting up again.
People ask why they’re fighting some neighbors say some people have way too much time on their hands.
“Until we get jobs, that's how, I think our town will be safer,” says Tulsa resident Pam Rosser.
So instead of finding a real job police say criminals and murder victims are getting mixed up in a deadly combination of dope deals and theft. However, there are a lot of ways to define trouble.
"Maybe it's over drugs. Maybe there might be a gang member involved. Just because somebody is a young person doesn't necessarily mean they’re a gang member. It's kind of splitting hairs," says Sgt. Mike Huff.
Whatever the case says Huff, who leads the Tulsa Police Homicide unit, there’s a lot of anger in homes and out on the streets.
"More people are resorting to violence where it used to be maybe a fist fight or some strong words. But it's alarming," says Huff.
And altercations are the primary cause of the rise in murders this year.
Huff says of the 35 homicides, 12 are connected to altercations, 10 drugs and five domestic violence cases.
All of it is ugly but much of it swirls around the fight for the dollar.
"If there's not jobs, people are going to do what they have to do to feed themselves, feed their family,” says Rosser.
Tulsa homicide detectives say they have more than an 80% clearance rate. Out of the 35 homicides this year, six are unsolved.
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