I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. The 31 homicides are the most since 1991, when the city recorded 30, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Report data, which was made available by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people, Ring wrote on the website of his fathers veterans rights organization. This means that for comparably sized cities all across America, Killeen is actually safer than most according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis of FBI crime data. that is degrading to another person. A total of 21,570 murders were committed nationwide in 2020, up nearly 30% from the previous year -- the largest annual increase on record. The numbers are distressing. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. Be Proactive. We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. Total employer establishments, 2020: X: Total employment, 2020: X: Total annual payroll, 2020 ($1,000) X: Total employment, percent change, 2019-2020: X: The U.S. murder rate is at its highest level in nearly two and half decades. Raw data sources: Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). All data used in this story, including population figures used to calculate population-adjusted crime rates, is from the FBI's 2020 Uniform Crime Report. If the Killeen City Council proposes a bond election for a new city hall in November, would you be inclined to support it? Police said the Bell County grand jury did not take action on this case based on information presented. From here, wars are launched. October 5, 2022. On most nights, I had nightmares. It was higher than in 84.9% U.S. cities. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set Fernandes wouldnt share much, nothing about what had caused him to be hospitalized, and said that he was using an insecure base hospital line. OPINION: What should KISD board be looking for in a superintendent? Jan. 10 18-year-old James Centron Taylor Mitchell Jr. was fatally shot in the 4200 block of Corrine Drive. The grand jury decides if there is sufficient evidence to indict someone for their alleged crime. There is a 1 in 59 change that you will become a victim of a property crime. Columbus saw a surge of crime in 2021, including record setting numbers of homicides. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) A Killeen city police car parks near the front entrance to Luby's Cafeteria w. wreaths & baskets of flowers placed there by mourners for the 23 killed and 27 others wounded in a massacre by crazed . Site Gregory Wedel-Morales' remains were found in Killeen, Texas. A total of 21,570 murders were committed nationwide in 2020, up nearly 30% from the previous year -- the largest annual increase on record. . While the count of homicides varied each year among cities, every city experienced an increase in homicides from 2019 to 2020. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Killeen, TX (February 13, 2023): A second arrest has been made in the Murder of Jonathon Allen Hampton. racist or sexually-oriented language. Jan. 14 2-month-old Quan Kendrick Scott died while in the care of a sitter. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. In 2019, 61% of all Texas suicides were by firearm. After he returned to Fort Hood, Rodriguez managed to get Casteel on a video call. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. 4 0 obj An analysis of Crafts legacy: Historic bond, salary, questionable rehiring policy and special ed, Graffiti spotted on several central Killeen businesses, Salado reader urges removal of Bell Confederate statue, cites atrocities, Sunny skies and warm temperatures coming this week, City Council to revisit dissolving Crime Solutions Committee, Army sergeant guilty in fatal Texas shooting of protester, Killeen reader says most people don't know how criminals think, Central Texas fuel prices rise sharply; AAA cites OPEC as the reason, Cagle again asks council members to OK hiring architect for city hall design, -Synuclein Seed Amplification Assay Classifies Parkinson Disease, Reader says dealing with mass shootings should be a top priority, Belton reader critical of DeSantis' attacks on anything deemed 'woke', One of 5 candidates for Killeen police chief had 'tumultuous' tenure in Little Rock, Seven Killeen nonprofits chosen to receive $140,000 in grant funding, Trial set to begin in case of soldier accused of murdering BLM protester, Killeen reader takes issue with KISDs purchase of electric buses, Homelessness a crisis in America, Marbut says at health summit i, Reader says Christians must push back against threats to society, Reader comments on similarities among mass-shooting incidents. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. The department presented information to the county for three cases that a Bell County grand jury did not take action on based on the information presented. No charges have been announced. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, Based on FBI crime data, Killeen is not one of the safest communities in America. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. The ratio of all residents to sex offenders in Killeen is 389 to 1. A small minority, which bikers call one percent groups, and which the Department of Justice calls by the regrettable acronym OMG, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, were the people Wedel-Morales had been hanging around with. Linda Schweers, whose specialist son, Justin, died in a car crash in June while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, wanted me to be careful of cartels, which she said ran the area. Dallas ended 2020 with 251 murders, the highest murder rate it reported in 15 years. "The Texarkana Moonlight Murders" sent the border town of Texarkana into a panic. Do you favor a bill passed by the Texas House that would put the state on permanent daylight saving time? On July 6, Eddie Octavius Braswell was charged with injury to a child with serious bodily injury/mental defect-intentional. For Killeen, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). You have permission to edit this article. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Killeen is 1 in 43. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. endobj Raw crime incidents are sourced from all 18,000+ local law enforcement agencies municipal, county, transit, park, port, university, tribal and more, assigned to localities, then built into NeighborhoodScouts proprietary predictive models to provide a comprehensive crime risk profile for every neighborhood and address-vicinity in the U.S. More about NeighborhoodScouts crime data methodology, By sending this Report you agree to NeighborhoodScout's. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. No arrests have been announced. Homicides occurred in nine of the 12 months, with April, July and August being the only months free of criminal deaths. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? New houses, more people. Killeen homicides continue to rise in 2020, By Thaddeus Imerman | Herald staff writer. On Feb. 14, Jordan Henry Jessup, 21, was charged with theft of a firearm. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. The State of Texas, Williamson County, and the City of Georgetown have issued disaster declarations due to the winter storm (Read the City's disaster declaration). The memorial sits behind the Rosa Hereford Killeen Community Center at 2201 E. Veterans Memorial Blvd. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. There was a problem saving your notification. Using two semi-automatic pistols, Hennard killed 22 patrons in 12 minutes. No arrests have been announced. <>/Metadata 572 0 R/ViewerPreferences 573 0 R/PageLabels 574 0 R>> Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Relative to Texas, Killeen has a crime rate that is higher than 83% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes. "When we have our homicide cases, we bring full bear of the police department to attempt to solve them," KPD Chief Chuck Kimble said. According to the most recent data from the FBI, the total crime rate in Killeen is 2,644.4 per 100,000 people. He died the evening of September 2. No arrests have been announced. Though Texas has a murder rate closely in line with the national average, its overall violent crime rate is considerably higher than average. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Thank you for reading! On Oct. 16, 1991, George Hennard, 35, of Belton, drove. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks death was ruled an accident by a single shot of friendly fire before the family received the body and saw that she had five gunshot wounds, including one to the head. March 23 22-year-old Michael Steven Wardrobe was fatally shot on Dustin Court in Killeen. III Armored Corps commander hosts press conference on Pvt. Some experts speculate that each of these factors likely played a role in the rising homicide rate. June 2 29-year-old Jared Michael Tristan was fatally shot in the 400 block of Alpine Street in Killeen. His wife, Christal, was denied her husbands mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. Twenty of the homicides have been by gunshot. A total of 12,610 injuries and 218 murders have been attributed to road rage over a seven-year period in the United States (SafeMotorist). No arrests have been announced. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. Dec. 17 45-year-old Tonya Denise Dixon was fatally shot at her home in the 300 block of South 10th Street. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. Casteel had told Rodriguez he was getting away from the abuse.. The remains of Wedel-Morales, the Fort Hood soldier who went missing in August 2019, were found June 19 in Killeen. The purported motto of the Army was family first, mission second, Gary Shafer, a noncommissioned officer who served at Fort Hood from 2012 to 2018 and who knew Wedel-Morales through the car-club scene, told me. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. The number of homicides stood at 7 - an increase of 1 compared to 2019. That's 12.72% higher than the national rate of 2,346.0 per 100,000 people and -1.75% lower than the Texas total crime rate of 2,691.5 per 100,000 people. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. "They found a reason to put a little bandage on a big problem," her dad said. Sept. 19 43-year-old Emma Jones was fatally shot in the 2600 block of Lewis Street. Homicides occurred in nine of the 12 months, with April, July and August being the only months free of criminal deaths. Morrow pleaded not guilty Dec. 15 during a formal arraignment hearing in the 426th Judicial District Court in Bell County. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. In one of the cases, prosecution was denied. Rodriguez disputes this claim. Now let us turn to take a look at how Killeen does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures and left millions of Americans out of work. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. The pursuit of happiness, or simply stability, will invariably lure people to the American military, which may be why the undocumented, the indigent, or those with a criminal record are overrepresented in its ranks. Jeremy Renner Is Walking Again After Snowplow Accident, Jeremy Renner Tells Diane Sawyer His Snowplow Accident Would Have Been a Horrible Way to Die, Jeremy Renner Sits Down With Diane Sawyer in First Interview After Snowplow Accident, The Right Will Blame School Shootings on Literally Anything Other Than Guns. . The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. In 2020, there were 11 domestic and eight disputes homicides. When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didnt want to be found. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. The 23rd victim died of her injuries days later, marking the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at that time. (The Boley case remains unsolved.) 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