After a significant decrease in 2024, homicides are up again in the City of Fayetteville, with 28 so far this year compared to 15 at this time last year.
According to the Fayetteville Police Department, as of July 22 there were 28 homicides in the city, in connection to 26 incidents. Five of those incidents are unsolved, which puts the department’s clearance rate at about 80%. That is well above the national average, which was about 58% in 2023, according to the FBI.
The latest figures, while still following an upward trend, take the edge off the dramatic increase recorded by the police department in the first quarter of the year, when homicides increased 366% — from three incidents to 14 incidents — compared to the same time last year. That increase, along with a series of high-visibility gun violence incidents, alarmed residents. While homicides have already surpassed the 2024 count, data collected in the past three months indicate a more gradual uptick, with only six additional homicides recorded in the city since April. The 2025 numbers are also similar to the 2023 count, when there were 31 homicides halfway through the year, according to the police department.
Fayetteville Police Chief Roberto Bryan, who was hired earlier this month, told CityView the police department is working to identify “the best way to address these issues” and will provide additional information to the public soon.
“There’s conversations already taking place with our other local partners, state and federal partners, as to what we can do to combat these issues, to have what we call a local impact,” Bryan said. “So stand by for further information on that. But we are coming up with some initiatives that we plan to implement.”
Fayetteville’s homicides have fluctuated over the past few years, following national trends that saw murders peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city recorded 24 homicides in 2018, 21 in 2019 and 30 in 2020. The city saw 48 homicides in 2021 and 44 in 2022. The following year, Fayetteville saw a record-high of 53 homicides, but homicides more than halved in 2024, with just 15 recorded.
The trends reported in Fayetteville this year are also in line with what’s taking place in other cities across the country. Homicides have surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 60% of 42 U.S. cities, including Fayetteville, studied in a mid-year 2025 report from the Council on Criminal Justice, an independent think tank that tracks criminal justice trends in the United States. However, because of a significant decrease in a few major cities, homicides in the U.S. have technically decreased overall compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“These trends are promising, especially the drop in homicide rates, but much of the decrease in the national homicide rate continues to be driven by large declines in a handful of cities with high homicide levels,” said CCJ Senior Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez, co-author of the report, in a press release. “More than half of the cities we studied continue to experience higher homicide levels compared to levels seen prior to the pandemic. While we should continue to invest in evidence-based crime reduction strategies, we must also be cautious about claiming what is currently reducing crime without more rigorous evidence.”
Government accountability reporter Evey Weisblat can be reached at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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