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Pittsburgh saw 55 homicides, 114 non-fatal shootings in 2018

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh officials released the 2018 statistics for homicides and shootings Monday morning.

There were 55 homicides and 114 non-fatal shootings in 2018, down from 58 homicides and 140 non-fatal shootings in 2017, officials said during a news conference.

Police are also solving more homicides.

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Mayor Bill Peduto said homicides in the city of Pittsburgh have decreased each year since 2014.

Officials said the city went from 3 square miles with ShotSpotter detection to 18 square miles.

Police Chief Scott Schubert said even though gun violence is down in Pittsburgh, even one homicide is too many.

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"We are committed, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, to aggressively investigate each and every homicide and shooting," he said.

Pittsburgh police solved more homicides in 2018 than any year in the last five years. They also attributed the decrease to the year-old police substation downtown and the newly opened one in Northview Heights.

In early January, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office revealed it investigated 111 homicides in 2018. June and October saw the most homicides, with 16 each month.

But there are some city neighborhoods, like Homewood and Lincoln-Lemington, that continue to see gun violence, making today's numbers surprising for some.

Police also told Channel 11 they've gotten greater help from the community over the last five years.

Those relationships are stronger, and police say more people are willing to share information with investigators.