Violent crime down 10.3% in first months of 2024: FBI data
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(NEW YORK) — Violent crime decreased by 10.3% in the first six months of 2024, according to newly released preliminary FBI data.
From January to June 2024, the Quarterly Uniform Crime Report found that:
Murder decreased by 22.7%.
Rape decreased by 17.7%.
Robbery decreased by 13.6%.
Aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%.
Property crime decreased by 13.1%.
The preliminary data is based on voluntary submissions from 14,809 of 19,311 law enforcement agencies in the country.
The Midwest saw the largest percentage drop by region, with a 12% drop in violent crime.
Violent crime in 2024, a top issue for voters in the upcoming presidential election, is continuing its downward trend from 2023.
Data released by the FBI last month found that violent crime was down 3% from 2022 to 2023, with murders down 11.6%.
The drop in murders represents the “largest drop” since the agency has been collecting data, an FBI official said of the 2022 to 2023 trend in a call with reporters.
In that period, the report noted that rape decreased by 9.4%, aggravated assault decreased by 2.8%, and robbery decreased by 0.3%.
ABC News’ Jack Date and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new indictment charging him with criminal sex act in the first degree.
He was wheeled into a Manhattan courtroom wearing a black suit, white shirt and tie.
The former movie mogul is charged in the new indictment based on the allegations of a woman who said he sexually assaulted her on one occasion in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel.
He is also charged in a previous New York State Supreme Court indictment with criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Weinstein, 72, missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
The new indictment comes months after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 sex crimes conviction. He had been found guilty of criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
In a scathing 4-3 opinion in April, the court found the trial judge “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.”
Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office in Bozeman, Montana. Via Google Maps Street View
(BIG SKY, Mont.) — A Montana man has been charged in the killing of a fellow camper that was so brutal it was initially reported by a 911 caller as a possible bear attack.
Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, of Basin, Montana, has been charged with deliberate homicide in the killing of Dustin Kjersem, authorities announced at a news conference Thursday evening.
Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said Abbey confessed to the killing after investigators zeroed in on him based on DNA collected from a beer can inside the slain man’s tent.
The sheriff said it does not appear the two men knew each other and that they met in a “chance encounter” as Abbey searched for a campsite.
“There does not appear to be any connection between our victim and our suspect,” Springer told reporters Thursday.
Kjersem’s body was found dead in a tent on Oct. 12 in a fairly remote camping area in the Moose Creek area.
The sheriff said Kjersem arrived in the Moose Creek area on Oct. 10 for a camping trip and had set up a wall tent, complete with a wood stove, beds and lamps.
That same night, Abbey was also in the area looking for a place to camp and noticed Kjersem had already taken the campsite, the sheriff said.
Abbey told investigators Kjersem “welcomed him to the campsite” and offered him a beer, the sheriff said.
Then at some point Abbey hit Kjersem with a piece of wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver and then hit him with an ax, the sheriff said.
The motive for the attack is still unknown, the sheriff said.
“We have a bit of his story, but … we don’t really know what the true story is,” Springer said.
The sheriff said Abbey later returned to the crime scene to remove items from the campsite that he believed might have evidence to tie him to the killing, including a cooler, firearms and the ax.
Kjersem was last heard from on Oct. 10 as he was leaving to go camping for the weekend. He had plans to pick up his girlfriend on the following day and take her out to the campsite, the sheriff said. When he didn’t show, she grew concerned and went with a friend to the campsite and found his body inside his tent.
The initial 911 call reported it as a possible bear attack.
When investigators responded to the scene of the crime, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agent with expertise in bear attacks did not find any signs of bear activity at the scene, prompting investigators to treat the incident as a homicide, according to the sheriff’s office.
An autopsy determined multiple wounds led to his death. Kjersem’s injuries included “significant damage” to his skull, Springer previously said.
Abbey’s DNA was identified on the beer can by analysts with the Montana State Crime Lab on Oct. 25, authorities said. Abbey was located in the Butte area. He was initially arrested on Oct. 26 on a probation violation.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House has condemned an incident over the weekend in which a group of masked individuals with Nazi flags marched through the streets of Columbus, Ohio.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement President Joe Biden “abhors the hateful poison of Nazism, Antisemitism, and racism,” which he called “hostile to everything the United States stands for, including protecting the dignity of all our citizens and the freedom to worship.”
“Hate directed against any of us is a threat to every single one of us,” Bates said. “This sickening display comes during a tragic rise in Antisemitic rhetoric and violence that is a crises the American people should all come together against. That is why President Biden launched and continues to act on the first ever national strategy to fight Antisemitism in American history.”
On Saturday afternoon, a group of unidentified individuals marched through Columbus wearing black and carrying flags with swastikas on them.
The individuals were also “armed with firearms,” according to the Columbus Police Department.
Members of the group were detained, but no arrests were ultimately made, police said. Police said officers had initially been advised of a possible “physical altercation,” but released the detained individuals after determining “an assault did not take place.”
Officials spoke out after photos and videos of the demonstrators circulated widely across social media.
In a statement from the city of Columbus, city officials said they “reject the cowardly display” and would work with police to monitor the situation.
“The Columbus community stands squarely against hatred and bigotry,” the statement said. “We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threatened or harmed because of who they are, how they worship or whom they love. We embrace tolerance and acceptance, and derive great strength from our diversity. It is who we are as a people, and it is precisely what has enabled us to grow and thrive and reach new heights of excellence.”
“We will not tolerate hate in Ohio,” Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement on social media Saturday. “Neo-Nazis — their faces hidden behind red masks — roamed streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews. There were reports that they were also espousing white power sentiments.”
He added, “There is no place in this State for hate, bigotry, antisemitism, or violence, and we must denounce it wherever we see it.”
The incident came a week after another group of masked individuals were seen waving Nazi flags outside a production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in Howell, Michigan.
