Anchorage is on track to finish 2014 with the second lowest number of homicides since 1991, according to the Anchorage Police Department.
APD says 14 homicides have taken place this year, including the shooting death of Jermaine Twiley at a Mountain View apartment complex on March 4. Police said Talon Draper shot Twiley, his next door neighbor, during an argument.
Department investigators say they are not sure why the number of murders continues to fall in the muni, but even one is too many.
“Fourteen homicides is 14 victims with 14 different histories, families, loved ones that were affected by it, and the whole community at large,” said Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz with APD’s homicide unit.
Police have not released the number of unsolved homicides in the muni, but the Anchorage Crime Stoppers’ website lists three for the year — the January murder of Aylett Hanson and a double homicide in March where a homeless couple was killed.
APD is encouraging residents with any information on these two incidents to call Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP.