Murders in our biggest cities surged in 2008.
Kansas City recorded its second-largest number in a decade, fueled by a record for the month of August and a high number in September. Its total of 126 homicides is 34 percent more than 2007. It’s one under the record for the decade set in 2005. The city’s all-time record is 153 kilings in 1993.
St. Louis police counted 167 murders as the old year wound down, up from 138 in 2007.