Worcester recorded 16 homicides in 2024, marking a sharp rise from the previous year and one of the highest annual totals in nearly four decades.
Of the 16 homicides, the Worcester Police Department attributed four to gang violence, four were related to domestic disputes, one was associated with child abuse, one was an unintentional homicide and two others involved friends getting into a fight and shooting each other, according to Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier.
Four of these homicides involved someone under the age of 18 getting killed, according to records obtained by MassLive through a public records request.
Twelve of the homicide victims were killed by firearms, three people were stabbed to death and one person was killed by blunt force, according to Saucier.
The number of reported homicides last year in Worcester was the most the city has seen in at least 38 years, according to data from the FBI’s online Crime Data Explorer, which goes as far back as 1986. It did not have homicide numbers from the years 1990 and 1991
Prior to last year, the highest amount of homicides Worcester had was 13 in the years 1987, 1992, 1994 and 2019. Following all four of these years, however, there were drops in the reported number of homicides.
On average, Worcester has seen 8 homicides per year from 1992 to 2024.
In 2023, Worcester saw six homicides. And two years ago, there were 12 homicides, according to the department’s 2023 crime statistics.
Saucier told MassLive that he believes last year was an anomaly. He said that some of the homicides in 2024 were crimes of passion — crimes where emotions can escalate.
“Last year, we had five domestic homicides and two fights between friends, for a total of seven that could be classified as crimes of passion,” said Worcester Police Department Lieutenant Sean Murtha. “This is up from past years.”
Preventing gun violence in Worcester
Non-fatal shootings in Worcester decreased over the past year, with 537 reported in 2024 compared to 736 in 2023.
The interim police chief told MassLive he and his department have been working to prevent gun violence and homicides throughout the city.
The Crime Gun Intelligence Unit was established in April 2024. The unit consists of four officers and a sergeant and is responsible for locating and seizing guns or weapons that are classified by law enforcement as illegal.
The unit has managed to conduct 40 firearm-related arrests and have confiscated 25 firearms. There has also been community work done by members of the Worcester Police Department, such as community patrols, holding a basketball league for boys and speaking to sixth-grade classes at Worcester Public Schools. These programs are important, Saucier told MassLive, saying they help prevent children from becoming victims of crimes.
“It’s all about communications,” Saucier said. “Making those communications and connections with the community is vitally important.”
While the homicide numbers are troubling, Worcester City Manager Eric D. Batista said in a statement that they are not indicative of how safe Worcester is as a city.
“These are isolated, targeted incidents that police have zeroed in on to identify the perpetrators involved and they are using every tool at their disposal to bring them to justice,” Batista said. “Despite this recent uptick in fatal violence, non-fatal shootings have dramatically decreased and Worcester — without a doubt — remains one of the safest cities in the country.”
Out in Western Mass., Springfield saw a 45% decrease in the number of homicides in 2024 compared to the previous year’s all-time high of 31 homicides.
Last year, 16 incidents resulted in 17 homicides and 13 involved gun violence, Springfield Police Department spokesperson Ryan Walsh said.
In Boston, the city’s homicide rate in 2024 was 24 killings, down from 37 homicides in 2023, 40 both in 2022 and 2021 and 56 in 2020, according to Boston Police Department statistics.
