By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – There were 131 murders in the city of St. Louis last year.
That's 17 more than in 2004 and the the most since 2001. But the rate is still well below murder rates from the 1990s.
Police Chief Joe Mokwa calls the number "distressing," saying everything possible was being done to reduce violence.
St. Louis City once averaged 242 killings a year; it now averages 126.
Elsewhere, homicides in St. Louis County dropped to 28 from 31 the year before. St. Charles County had two, and Jefferson County had one.