Homicides up slightly in central Virginia

Central Virginia has seen a slight increase in homicides so far this year, with higher numbers in Richmond and Petersburg offsetting improved numbers elsewhere.

For the first nine months of the year, the region had 59 homicides, compared with 55 at the same time last year.

The biggest shift has been in Richmond, where city police recorded seven more homicides as of Sept. 30 than a year earlier. Richmond's nine-month count of 34 exceeds the total of 32 homicides for all of 2008.

That means Richmond's homicide total will increase this year for the first time in at least a decade.

Learned Barry, a deputy commonwealth's attorney in Richmond who handles many homicide cases, said the increase likely reflects a return to homicide levels in Richmond that are historically lower but statistically more realistic.

He called last year's number of 32, which was a record low in recent decades, a "statistical anomaly."

In Petersburg, homicides increased from three by the end of September 2008 to seven as of the same time this year.

By contrast, improved numbers in Chesterfield County -- two homicides this year through September compared with nine last year -- and in Powhatan County -- where the number dropped from three to zero -- helped keep down the region's overall total.

Henrico County has had nine homicides so far this year, compared with 10 as of the same time last year.

Twelve of the 20 central Virginia jurisdictions have recorded no homicides in the first nine months of this year.

Law-enforcement officials and veteran prosecutors cautioned that Richmond likely will not see again the low numbers that marked 2008. Last year, Richmond's 32 homicides were five times fewer than the city record of 160 in 1994. Even more remarkable, they represented a reduction of 23 homicides from just a year earlier.

Richmond police and prosecutors are resolving a greater percentage of murders, but the endemic problems persist, Barry said. He added that Richmond's annual homicide numbers, based on statistics from other cities with similar population characteristics, ought to cluster at 55 a year.

Crime statistics computed by the U.S. Department of Justice over the past 30 years indicate that the homicide rate for large cities with populations of between 100,000 to 250,000 stands at about 10 per 100,000 residents. Richmond has about 193,000 people.

The economy, also, is believed to be pushing up statistics applying to robberies, fraud, embezzlement and other monetary crimes. The same pressures may be contributing to homicide numbers, law-enforcement officials say.

Two recent cases attracted particular attention in Henrico and Richmond. Chinese-food delivery drivers carrying little or no money were gunned down as they made deliveries.

"We can't say it's a trend because we haven't seen any other homicides associated with commercial robberies," said Henrico Sgt. D.A. Sullivan. "But with the delivery people, you are talking about a historically vulnerable population that for whatever reason -- family businesses, the amount of money -- resists giving up the money."

For Yong Sun, a driver shot to death in Henrico, that may have been a fatal mistake.

The few dollars he received moments earlier from delivering a shrimp dinner was still in his pocket when he was shot dead inside the car he drove.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .

Staff writers Mark Bowes and Reed Williams contributed to this report.