RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - New statistics show that violent crime was on the rise last year in Virginia.
The Roanoke Times reports that numbers from state police show an increase of more than 10 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year. The crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
The information was released Friday in the annual Crime in Virginia report. It tallies local and state crime figures.
The number of homicides rose 26 percent to 480. Half of the victims were younger than 30 years old. Firearms were used 75 percent of the time.
Property crimes such as burglary remained mostly unchanged. Drug offenses increased by 8 percent. There was a 12 percent decrease in hate crimes.
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Information from: The Roanoke Times, https://www.roanoke.com
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