Philadelphia murders surpass 300 for first time since 2012

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphia's homicide rate has reached 300 for the year of 2017 with more than two weeks left in the year.

This is the first time since 2012 the city has reached or surpassed 300 murders.

Last year, the city logged 277 homicides. That was a slight decline from 2015, when the city had 280 homicides.

The numbers were up from 2013 and 2014. But in previous decades the homicide totals nearly always exceeded 300 and reached 500 in 1990.

One commonality between 2017 and 2012, the last time the city reached 300 murders, was the seemingly fast start with a high number of murders reported very early in the calendar year.

As of January 26, 27 murders had already been reported, which was the highest total for January since 2017.