After a year of historic reductions in homicides, the first half of 2025 is looking even brighter for Charm City officials.

There have been 68 homicides and 164 nonfatal shootings in Baltimore the first six months of the year, according to city police, a 22% and 19% decrease, respectively, from this time last year. This is the fewest homicides recorded in Baltimore in over 50 years, said Mayor Brandon Scott.

Both numbers outpace the goals in the city’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan of decreasing gun violence, fatal and nonfatal, by 15% per year. Scott said the reduction in crime has been achieved by goals in the plan that call for a public health approach to gun violence, prioritizing community engagement and transparency in sharing quantified results.

Stefanie Mavronis, the director of the Mayor’s Office for Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), which is responsible for implementing the plan, said in a statement that community-based efforts and supporting victims to prevent retalitation and revictimization has also been effective.

“We have to institutionalize the efforts we know are making a difference so that we’re not just seeing one, two, or three years of reductions, but rather sustained decreases in violent crime for the foreseeable future,” Mavronis said.

Scott thanked MONSE, Baltimore police officers, regional law enforcement agencies, the city’s State’s Attorney’s Office and other local and state officials for their contributions to the homicide reductions.

But he acknowledged there’s much more work to be done.

“Our work is far from over. 68 lives lost to violence is 68 too many,” Scott said in a statement. “While we acknowledge the historic lows we are experiencing, we must simultaneously acknowledge that there is much more work to do and our success makes me commit even further to doing it.”

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in a statement that the continued drop in homicides signifies meaningful progress. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates in a statement attributed the progress to “repealing ineffective non-prosecution policies” that empowered police and strengthened partnerships with local, state and federal agencies.

Police also pointed to improvements in the department’s operations. This includes establishing the Crime Strategies and Intelligence Division, which centralizes their intelligence, and the Youth and Community Partnerships Division, which assesses community policing, officials said.

Like Scott, though, Worley recognizes more work needs to be done, particularly in rebuilding trust with residents.

Tuesday’s news follows three instances in June in which Baltimore Police officers were involved in three deaths. On June 17, officers shot at West Baltimore arabber Bilal “BJ” Abdullah 38 times after he fired at them in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, officials said.

A week later, a man experiencing a mental health crisis approached officers at the intersection of North Franklintown Road and West Franklin Street for help, state investigators said. Police detained the man and transported him to the hospital after he lost consciousness in their custody, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. The man, who has not been identified, died around 3 a.m. on June 25, the state attorney general’s office, who is investigating the matter, said.

About 12 hours later, police fatally shot 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks after she allegedly charged with a knife at officers who were responding to a mental health crisis.

“Recent high-profile incidents remind us that there is still work to be done to improve our department and rebuild trust with our communities,” Worley said in a statement. “Baltimore is a safer city today, and I’m proud of the dedication shown by our officers, community members and all of our partners in working together towards that goal.”

Last year, 201 people died by homicide, and over 400 people were shot and wounded, a second consecutive year of historic decreases in gun violence. In April, five people died by homicide, the lowest monthly total in recent memory.