Philly saw its lowest homicide rate in a decade in 2024

Philadelphia hit a milestone in 2024 with a homicide rate that dropped to the lowest point it has been in a decade.

Violent crime has been decreasing steadily in Philadelphia -- earlier this year, the city saw the largest drop in gun violence of all major U.S. cities -- and as the year is set to turn over to 2025, the city can boast that it has cut its murder rate by more than half of what it was just three years ago.

According to Tone Barr, director of victim services at the Anti-Violence Partnership in West Philadelphia, this year his team was able to do more preventative work -- something that wasn't possible in year's past because of the high volume of victims of homicide and other violent crimes.

"We try to provide a safe haven and once we have that then we try to connect them with services," Barr told NBC10's Claudia Vargas. "De-escalation methods, how to reach people before they are going to pick gun violence up."

In the past, Tone said, he had a different job -- he was a funeral director.

It was a role in which, Tone said, he saw the toll that gun violence takes on those who live in Philadelphia on a daily basis .

"It was so much violence, so much death, so much despair," he said.

But, this year, Philadelphia has seen its lowest murder rate -- 266 according to the Philadelphia Police Department as of about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 -- since 247 people were killed in 2014.

In 2019, Philadelphia saw 353 murders, and that figure climbed to 559 in 2021.

This year the rate dropped about 40% from last year.

But, homicides aren't the only place where Philadelphia saw reductions. Other gun related crimes, including robbery and aggravated assault saw significant decreases over last year's numbers.

Overall, aggravated assaults committed without a firearm were the only violent crimes that saw a spike up last year Philadelphia.

For Barr, who works with victims and others impacted by gun violence on a daily basis, he believes the drop in violent crimes the city has seen can be attributed to law enforcement officials, City Hall and community groups throughout the city working together.

"Theres not a lot of separatism. Everyone is coming together as one to help keep gun violence down," he said.

In a press conference on Monday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner touted anti-violence organizations from all across the city for their work to help prevent crime.

“We're talking about sparing a life every day, every day because of the incredibly important work that is done at many different levels with prevention, with enforcement," Krasner said Monday, Dec. 30, 2024.

He said, at that time, shootings were someone survived had dropped 30% since 2023 and that rate, and others, in Philly were lower that what was reported out of other big cities.

"That, frankly, is a surprise all by itself because we're the brokest to the ten largest cities," he said. "And any responsible criminologists will tell you that poverty and crime go hand in hand.”

Still, despite the drop in many statistics, more than 1,000 people were injured by gunfire in Philadelphia in the last 12 months.

"Our job is to reduce it. It is to manage it in a way that in the long run makes Philadelphia consistently safe," Krasner said.

NBC10 reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department for comment on this story, but were told that Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel was not available.

As of Dec. 31, there were 266 homicides in Philadelphia in 2024, down about 35% from the same time last year and the lowest year-to-date amount in the city since 2014, according to Philadelphia police.

Though, that number may change after a man was found stabbed to death in a Northeast Philadelphia apartment on Tuesday, Dec. 2024.