Last year, the Chula Vista Police Department responded to 10 homicides. According to police, the city averages three homicides per year, meaning murder rates tripled in 2020.
"2020 was really an unusual year," Lt. Miriam Foxx told NBC7. "We haven't had numbers that high in at least 10 years."
As for finding a reason behind the recent spike in homicides, police are at a loss.
"We don't know," said Foxx. "We have no idea."
According to Foxx, the cases from the past year have varied in almost all aspects like age, relations, and weapons.
"There's really no pattern to them," said Foxx. "So we really don't know."
According to AH Datalytics cofounder Jeff Asher, who studies national crime numbers, this isn't just a problem in Chula Vista.
"This really is a national trend," Asher told NBC7.
After studying 57 police agencies across the U.S., Asher found that murder increased by 36.7% in 2020.
"This year, we're really seeing something really unprecedented," said Asher.
The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice also published a recent report about the national murder spike.
Based on their report, Chula Vista's murder increase far exceeds that of any other city they studied.
However, last year's numbers were still about 40% below the all-time high homicide rates that occurred in the '80s and '90s, reports NBC7.
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