By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis – Gang-related murders rose in St. Louis this year, while domestic killings remained low.
Overall the homicide rate is up in the city, but Scott Decker, a criminologist with the Univerisity of Missouri St. Louis, says most murder victims in St. Louis knew their killer.
"Almost anywhere you live, as long as you're not involved in the drug trade, and you don't hang around people who are engages in illegal activities, your changes of being the victim of a homicide are extremely low, and similar, frankly, to those who live in St. Louis County," Decker said.
As of last week there had been 117 homicides reported for 2004 in St. Louis. That's up from 69 in 2003, a 40-year low.
Decker says the 2004 number is more in line with 2002, when there were 112 murders.