Crime down, shootings up in Aurora; police blame gangs, social media for spike

Though police have been taking more guns off the streets and overall crime is down, more than twice as many people were shot in Aurora during the first half of this year compared to the first six months of 2016, according to recently released data.

Stating the rise in shootings is their first priority, the Aurora Police Department released six-month statistics on major crimes in the city of 200,000 in a Facebook post. The city also provided a log of all shootings through July 8 in response to a public records request.

Following a Fourth of July weekend with zero people shot compared to five over the holiday weekend last year, police cautioned against reading too much into that contrast. Their six-month data show that weekend was a departure from the rest of this year, with shooting injuries continuing through late July.

Not reflected in the six-month totals were last week’s shooting deaths of two men found in an SUV parked on an East Side driveway. Pedro Miranda, 25, and Enrique Villalvazo Jr., 39, were each shot more than once and pronounced dead at the scene July 20, putting Aurora at six people killed by gunfire since Jan. 1 — already matching the total number of shooting deaths for all 12 months of 2016.

Also not included was a 24-year-old man shot July 11 while walking on the sidewalk on the 900 block of Sard Avenue, outside a home that had already been targeted in two previous shootings this year.

Through June 31, citywide shootings killed four people and injured another 25, compared to two people killed and 11 injured in shootings over the same time period last year, according to police.

A total of 67 shooting incidents were reported in the first six months of 2017, a 42.6 increase over the 47 reported during the same period of 2016, according to the police department.

In the same time frames, police made 47.9 percent more arrests for illegally owned or possessed guns and took in 22.9 percent more firearms, according to a statement released on Facebook. Between January and June this year, 71 people were charged with unlawful use of a weapon and police confiscated 118 firearms, according to the statement.

Police attributed the rise in shootings and other illegal gun activity to an increase in crimes by gangs and over social media.

“The vast majority of shootings are not random and in many instances, even the shooting victims do not cooperate in the investigations,” police said in the statement.

Meanwhile, police said other violent crimes are down to 257 from 314 looking at the first six months year-over-year.

Police reported a 12.5 percent decrease in robberies and a 22.8 percent drop in aggravated assault and battery, while criminal sexual assaults were flat at 28 reported.

Among property crimes, burglaries were down 9.7 percent and arsons decreased 23.1 percent, according to police. However, motor vehicle thefts are on the rise, up 39.7 percent to 88 during the first six months of the year. Most cars targeted were left running unattended or unlocked with keys inside, police said.

Police said total crime has decreased 3.6 percent over the first six months of 2016, noting it’s also a decrease of 24.1 percent compared to the first six months of 2012; 39 percent compared to the first half of 2007; and 49.7 percent compared to the first half of 1997.

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone