Report shows more homicides in Baltimore County, as city continues crime drop

Todd Karpovich; Mathew Schumer; Luke Parker

The Baltimore Sun

August 5, 2025

As the region’s crime landscape continues to change, Baltimore City is making more strides in reducing violent crime, while homicides in Baltimore County have jumped back after a decline in 2024, according to a midyear crime report released Friday by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

In Baltimore City, homicides dropped by nearly a quarter, falling from 88 cases to 68, while reported rapes declined by a third, from 190 cases last year to 127, the report states.

Baltimore County is trending in the opposite direction, though its number of incidents is still relatively small compared to the city. According to the Chiefs Association, county homicides have risen from 11 in the first half of 2024 to 17 this year — offsetting a significant, 66% drop spotlighted by officials last summer compared with its 2021 figures.

Reported rapes have ticked up slightly, from 70 cases in 2024 to 73 this year.

But high-profile violence, like the December mass shooting in Towson that killed one person and injured nine others, has galvanized advocates for more crime-reduction measures in the county, although its crime rate is much lower than the city it surrounds.

“The Baltimore County Police Department does a lot of things right, including our clearance rate of wrapping up investigations. We have a strong presence in our communities,” said Baltimore County Councilman David Marks, a Republican who represents District 5. “We need to continue to replenish the vacancies that are occurring due to retirements, and deploy technology in addition to that important goal of beefing up personnel.”

Russ Mirabile, president of the Rosedale Community Association, said that while many residents move out of the city to escape crime, the issues often follow them into surrounding communities. He praised Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates for their strong stance on crime and efforts to improve public safety.

“People are concerned — I’m not going to pretend they’re not,” Mirabile said. “Everyone hopes the problems don’t reach their neighborhood, but unfortunately, they often do. You hear people say we don’t have enough police, and I get that. But this is the system we’re dealing with now. People are a lot more cautious. You go to your shopping centers at night, they’re not as crowded.”

On the flip side, Baltimore City homicides decreased by 20 compared to the first half of last year, continuing a historic, now years-long reduction of fatal violence. In July 2024, the city reported a 36% mid-year homicide decrease.

“The decreases we are seeing as a city are not a coincidence,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement Friday. “They are the result of so many partners working together to advance our shared vision for a better, safer Baltimore — both today and for the generations to come.”

In 2022, the city redeployed its Group Violence Reduction Strategy, an initiative fusing community relationships, social resources and law enforcement to identify and reach at-risk citizens. Once found, they are given a choice to connect with city programs or face investigation and arrest.

Scott’s administration is the third since 1999 to try to implement GVRS. Experts in crime prevention say what differentiates the current effort from previous attempts is a stronger focus on changing behavior — as opposed to prioritizing arrests and punishment.

Since its relaunch, GVRS has connected more than 250 individuals most likely to commit or fall victim to gun violence with social resources, the mayor said last month, and played a role in more than 410 arrests across the city.

In late July, officials expanded the strategy into the police department’s Southern District, putting it in five of the city’s nine police districts.

“While we continue to see meaningful progress, we know that as long as we continue to lose neighbors to violence, we have to double down and deepen the work that is driving these historic reductions,” the mayor said.

Alongside the city’s decrease in homicides overall, Baltimore is seeing its lowest juvenile homicide rate in a decade, just two years after the city reported a surge in youth violence.

Baltimore City saw another milestone earlier this year, when the city recorded only five homicide cases in April — the lowest monthly total in its recorded history.

Beyond fatal violence, the Major Cities Chiefs Association also reported slight increases in aggravated assaults and sexual assaults in Baltimore County. At the same time, Baltimore City saw notable decreases in both categories.

Both jurisdictions saw a modest decrease in robberies, according to the report.