ST. LOUIS â On the last day of 2020, St. Louis leaders read 262 names aloud from a church podium â each name representing a person killed in the city over the previous 12 months. Their deaths brought the cityâs homicide rate to a level 30% higher than any of the past 50 years, records show.
â2020 has been a very difficult year on so many different levels,â St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said at the 29th annual New Yearâs Eve vigil for homicide victims. âBut weâre all here today because we are hurting from the violence in our community. We are hurting from the trauma it causes.â