Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced that as of Aug. 3, 2026, shootings and homicides in Baltimore City continue to decline, as they have for the three years before this one.
The numbers of shootings and homicides saw historic reductions in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and as of Monday, Aug. 3, Baltimore had 60 homicides and 187 non-fatal shootings. On this date in 2025, the city had 81 homicides and 191 non-fatal shootings, which makes this year’s statistics a 25.9% decrease in homicides and a slight decrease in non-fatal shootings.
There were seven homicides in July 2026, which is the fewest for any July on record and only the second time a July homicide count was in the single digits. The last time that happened was 25 years ago, in July 2001, when there were nine homicides.
“Baltimoreans know that July has historically been the most dangerous month of the year—which makes this progress all the more significant,” Scott said. “We would not be here without the dedicated work of BPD and our law enforcement partners, MONSE, prosecutors, our community violence intervention ecosystem, and most importantly, our residents. In the months and years to come, we will continue to double down on the partnerships that are saving lives in our communities, because any one life lost to violence in our city is one too many.”
Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers have also seized more than 1,189 firearms as of Aug. 1, 2026, including 123 ghost guns, and made 743 gun arrests. BPD’s homicide clearance rate is around 60% year-to-date.
Crime has dropped in other areas, too. As of Aug. 1, carjackings are down 42%, burglaries are down 16%, and total robberies are down 12% compared to the same time last year.
Many factors contribute to the continued reduction of crime rates in Baltimore City. A major player is the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), a partnership between the BPD, the Mayor’s Office, and prosecutors. GVRS focuses on violent groups to both hold them accountable and offer them help and services to move past those behaviors. It puts its efforts towards those at the highest risk of being involved in violence.
The proof is in the results. As of July 29, 2026, GVRS has led to more than 670 arrests, including 595 by BPD’s Group Violence Unit, and connected more than 406 people to life coaching and wraparound services through YAP or Roca since it was launched in 2022. More than 90% of GVRS participants have remained unvictimized after they enrolled in these services.
Safe Streets Baltimore is another flagship community violence intervention program. Five of its ten sites have reached the milestone of going over 365 days without a homicide within their respective zones. These sites include Park Heights, Woodbourne-McCabe, Sandtown, Penn North, and McElderry Park. As of Aug. 1, 2026, Safe Streets frontline intervention staff have successfully mediated over 824 potentially violent conflicts and connected 263 residents at-risk of being involved in violence with support services.
Academic research is starting to back up Scott’s approach. In June, the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab released a new paper that found Baltimore’s GVRS strategy played a key role in the city’s historic reduction in homicides. Closer to home, in May, the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions released research showing the Safe Streets program was associated with a sharp reduction in youth homicides.
Scott and MONSE are developing the city’s second Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan. This is a new five-year roadmap to build on the progress of the last five years, and will be released by early Fall 2026. Residents can attend listening sessions and share feedback through the public survey or by emailing MONSE. Session dates and locations will be released in the coming weeks.
